Doctors don't make promises, do they?
by Nelfy
Summary: This fanfic shows what happened during the season 4 finale and goes further to explore the relationship between Callie and Erica, slight mentions of Mark, Addison and Christina. Enjoy!
1. Chapter One Threesome

Title: Doctors don't make promises, do they?

**Author:** Nelfy  
**Characters:** Callie Torres, Erica Hahn, Callica ship, slight mentions of Mark, Christina and Addison  
**Summary:** This fanfic shows what happened during the season 4 finale and goes further to explore the relationship between Callie and Erica.  
**Spoilers:** Starts with the season 4 finale  
**Rating:** T (will change to M in upcoming chapters)  
**Disclaimer:** Characters belong to ABC and Shonda Rhimes

**Author's Note:** This is my first fanfic, so comments, suggestions and tips are desired and appreciated! The chapter titles are song titles by one artist, shouldn't be too hard to find out by whom ;-). Enjoy!

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**Chapter One – Threesome**

_I had been horny all day. __Having barely been able to concentrate on the surgery and on repairing Cement Boy's limbs, my body was aching for release. Luckily, there was always manwhore Mark at my disposal. I wasn't really that much into him, but sex with him was hot and amazing and there was no need for love. Besides, hot sex was way better than no sex at all. Because if I went too long without sex, thoughts of Erica, my _friend_ Erica, kept creeping into my head and I just couldn't take that. Yeah, sure, she had kissed me in that elevator, but really, that kiss was just to tease Mark. I knew that Erica did not like Mark, mainly because he just couldn't stop hitting on her. I guess she also didn't approve of the fact that I slept with him, even though she tried not to show it to me. After all, it was my sex life and she had told me after our talk about "being lesbians" that she didn't have the right to interfere with my sex life just because we were friends. Friends. That's what we were, Erica and I. _Just friends_. I tried to not think about her, because my feelings when she kissed me had not been feelings anyone should have for a friend. Those feelings were more along the line of ripping off each others cloths and then making love. Not just sex, like I did with Mark, but real love. The kind of lovemaking where you pour your heart into the other person's body._ _Sigh._

Callie was waiting for Mark to change and then they wanted to finally leave the hospital and the endless day of Cement Boy behind them. Even though Mark knew that Callie was not romantically interested in him, he still couldn't resist having sex with her all the time. With Callie, everything was easy. She was beautiful and hot and she didn't mind his dirty talk about threesomes. Callie didn't mind that he did not love her or went out on dates with her. With Callie, sex was just what it was: a way to release tension and have some fun. Actually, a lot of fun, since Callie couldn't get enough of Mark ever since Erica had kissed her in that elevator. It wasn't like Mark hadn't been turned on by the kiss, but he was definitely surprised by how much _**Callie**_ had been turned on. That night, she came four times before she had enough and she nearly wore Mark out, which rarely happens. While Mark didn't know what would happen between Callie and Erica, he enjoyed standing back and watching the whole thing unfold. And, a small part of him was still hoping that maybe, just maybe, the threesome would actually take place.

Mark and Callie took the elevator and stepped outside of the hospital.

"So, you wanna finish what we started yesterday?" Callie needed to get off, she was starting to fantasize about Erica's lips again.

"Or, you could finish what you started?" Mark hadn't planned on saying that, but when he saw Erica going through her purse in front of the hospital, he knew it was the right thing to do. Callie saw Erica and then turned her head back to look at Mark questioningly.

"I'm growing. Go, get out of here".

Callie looked uncertain, but then she took a deep breath and started walking towards Erica. She had no idea what she would say or how to explain to Erica that they might actually be more than just friends, even though they had laughed about the idea days earlier.

"Hey. I wanted to see if you wanted to grab a drink." Callie was nervous, though she didn't really understand why. She was just talking to Erica, her friend. Erica, on the other hand, was still going through her purse, not paying any attention to Callie.

"I can't find my keys." She didn't even bother looking at Callie, which did nothing to calm Callie down.

"Maybe we could, amm, … I had something I wanted to talk about."

"I had the damn keys this morning, I put them in this bag, but I can't remember. This whole thing with Yang got me so messed up"

"Erica!" Callie spoke up, finally drawing Erica's attention to her.

"What?" Erica had had a bad day and she really did not want to have to deal with Callie right now. Obviously, she was into her younger friend, but both of them were not ready yet to admit their attraction to each other. Erica had accepted that there might be more than just a friendship, but she was not willing to take the next step and risk loosing her only friend.

"I'm saying something here. Just, I wanted to say" Callie looked deep into Erica's piercing blue eyes and then let them fall to Erica's lips. Those lips, which had kissed her so softly that she just couldn't stop thinking about them. Even when she was in bed with Mark, she noticed the difference between his and her lips and just wished for these lips to kiss her again. Callie took a deep breath and all her courage together…

"I just want to do this"

… and leaned forward, taking the older woman's face in her hands and kissing her. Erica immediately returned the kiss and brought her hands up to Callie's face as well. She wanted to feel _her_, all of her, even though all her nerves were concentrated on her lips and how soft Callie's felt. They tore apart for a second, just to look each other in the eye and find their love for each other openly on display and then leaned in for another kiss, this time with more conviction and less hesitation. Slowly, Erica's tongue sneaked out of her mouth, circling Callie's lips and asking for entrance. Willingly, Callie opened her mouth and let Erica explore her lips and tongue. The kiss deepened and got more passionate and soon, they had to pull away to take a deep breath.


	2. Chapter Two Goodnight

**Title****:** Doctors don't make promises, do they?  
**Author**: Nelfy  
**Characters:** Callie Torres, Erica Hahn, Callica ship, slight mentions of Mark, Christina and Addison  
**Summary:** This fanfic shows what happened during the season 4 finale and goes further to explore the relationship between Callie and Erica.  
**Spoilers:** Starts with the season 4 finale  
**R****ating:** T (will change to M in upcoming chapters)  
**Disclaimer:** Characters belong to ABC and Shonda Rhimes

**Author's Note**: I feel like I'm on my own now. I hope you like what I did with this. The song titles and lyrics sometimes correspond to what I wrote, but sometimes they don't.

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**Chapter Two – ****Goodnight**

"Wow" was all what Callie was able to mutter. She had kissed a few men before, but never had a kiss been so loaded with emotions and made her feel so warm, loved and wanted inside. Even though these might seem like differing emotions, they were all going through Callie's body and mind at once. "Wow".

"You're repeating yourself" muttered Erica with a sarcastic undertone and looked into Callie's eyes. The both couldn't stop themselves and started to laugh, laughing away all the tension that had been building up between them.

"As much as I would love to keep kissing you, I think we should take this somewhere else. So…" Erica paused, then gathered all her courage and asked "My place or Joe's?" Callie was surprised that Erica was able to formulate such clear thoughts. She was still in shock about the kiss and her bold action.

"Ahm. Hm. I want to be alone with you."

"Then my place it is. I still haven't found my keys."

"Did you put them in your coat pocket?"

"No, I put them in my bag" Erica reached into her coat pocket and groaned. She pulled her keys out and looked at Callie apologetic. Callie shot her a glance that said "I told you so", but then her love interest leaned in and kissed her again, which made Callie forget about the keys and everything else in the world.

After kissing for some minutes, Erica took Callie's hand and they went to Erica's car to go to her place. They rode in silence, both tired from the day, but also on the edge of their nerves because neither of them knew what would happen once they arrived at Erica's place. Callie couldn't stop thinking about the kiss and wondered whether Erica had ever been with a woman before. She hadn't mentioned it in any of their conversations, but then again they had never really talked about lesbianism except for that one time. While Erica seemed calm, her heart was racing. She could hardly believe that this absolutely stunning doctor was sitting next to her and that they were actually going to her place – together! She was not sure whether Callie was ready for more and as much as she wanted it, Erica knew very well that it was better to wait and let the younger woman get acquainted to the idea of sleeping with a woman. First times were always scary, no matter whether you were sleeping with a man or with a woman.

When they arrived at Erica's house, it had started raining and so Erica let them in through the garage. Callie had been to her friend's place once before, so she knew where the living room was and immediately let herself fall down on the black leather sofa. Some people might say that Erica's house looked cold, but Callie felt at home in the beautiful house. The living room was furnished in black and white and Erica had kept everything rather simple. The brown wooden floor added a sense of cosiness and Callie loved the big, soft white pillows that lay on the sofa. She leaned back and closed her eyes, tired from the day's events. Meanwhile, Erica went to the kitchen to get them a bottle of wine and when she entered the living room, Callie had her eyes closed and looked as if she had fallen asleep. Erica sighed, knowing very well that she was ready for bed as well, but never the less sat down on her armchair to watch Callie's chest rise and fall slowly. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the beautiful orthopaedic surgeon who had kissed her so passionately and had proven that she wanted them to be more than friends as well. She sipped on her wine, enjoying the taste it left in her mouth and dreaming about a now very possible future with the woman she was so into.

Callie had heard Erica enter the room, but she was too tired to open her eyes. However, she felt Erica's gaze on her and after a few minutes, she mumbled without opening her eyes

"Are you watching me sleep?"

Erica could not hold pack a grin and replied "Well, apparently not, because you are NOT asleep".

Callie smiled, finally looking at Erica and stuck out her tongue. "Do you always have to be right?"

"How do you think I got to where I am today?" Erica was teasing Callie, but she enjoyed that they were still able to fool around without feeling awkward.

"Well, if I may remind you, I was the one who kissed you tonight, so actually, I got you where you are tonight!" Touché. Erica smiled, allowing Callie to be right and then tried to suppress a yawn, but it was too late.

"Am I boring you?" Callie asked appalled, but her smile showed Erica that she did not really mean it that way.

"I do think we need to talk about this, about us, but I am so tired. Let's go to bed and talk about this tomorrow morning. You're off too, right?" Callie wiggled her brows, put on her sexiest grin and asked in a deep voice "What are you suggesting, Dr. Hahn? You want to go to bed with me?".

Then it struck the cardio-goddess what she had just said and her cheeks turned scarlet red. Callie grinned, seeing that she had actually been able to make Dr. Hahn, the poker face in perfection, blush.

"Um, that's not what I meant, I mean… You know… I meant that we should go to **sleep**, not do anything else." Erica stressed the world sleep, hoping she would be able to save the day. Callie pouted and, still teasing her love, asked "So you are not interested in me at all?" She sighed and then started laughing when she saw Erica's facial expression. The older woman had had enough and so she got up, went over to the only person who meant something to her and kissed her forcefully, sucking on Callie's lower lip and at the same time fondling her right breast. Callie was surprised and unable to move, not having expected this reaction, but enjoying it nonetheless. She moaned and started to protest when Erica pulled away. Erica silenced her by putting her finger over her lips.

"Listen, I'm really tired and you are too, so let's just go to sleep and then we'll discuss this whole situation tomorrow, ok?"

"Okay." Callie sighed, wanting more of those forceful kisses. She love the idea of being taken by the seemingly "cold" surgeon, who most of the time did not show her feelings to anyone.

"So, I don't want to put any pressure on you, we don't have to do anything tonight if you don't want to, but I would still love to sleep in one bed with you." Callie furrowed her brows, unsure why Erica was so sure that she was the one who wasn't ready for more. Then it dawned on her, that maybe she should get this question out of the way once and for all.

"Erica, have you ever been with a woman?" Erica sighed, looked at Callie and decided to get it over with.

"Yes, actually I have. When I was an intern, I practically lived in the hospital and there was only one other female intern. We were best friends and then one thing lead to another and we ended up sleeping with each other. We spent every minute of the day with each other, so we just figured, why not be friends with benefits. We both didn't have time for dates and were not interested in the male interns, who thought they were better than us, so…" She let her voice trail off, not knowing what more to say. She wasn't sure how her love interest would take the news, but Callie did not look appalled, just surprised. Then, out of nowhere, Callie started laughing.

"You know, I once actually lived in the hospital, in the basement" Callie said, looking like she meant it. Erica just looked at her in surprise, not knowing what to do with this information and then just answered with an "Okay." Obviously, they were both too tired to keep up a conversation.

"So, my bed or the guest bed?" Callie still hadn't answered that question and Erica was already nearly falling asleep. For a short moment, Callie seemed to consider her options, but then the dark-haired beauty smiled at Erica, planted a kiss on her lips and gently whispered "I would love to spend the night with you!"


	3. Chapter Three I need to wake up

**Title****:** Doctors don't make promises, do they?  
**Author**: Nelfy  
**Characters:** Callie Torres, Erica Hahn, Callica ship, slight mentions of Mark, Christina and Addison  
**Summary:** This fanfic shows what happened during the season 4 finale and goes further to explore the relationship between Callie and Erica.  
**Spoilers:** Starts with the season 4 finale  
**R****ating:** T (will change to M in upcoming chapters)  
**Disclaimer:** Characters belong to ABC and Shonda Rhimes

**Author's Note**: This is a shorter chapter, I'm going slow on purpose. I should probably mention that English is not my mother tongue, so if I misused a saying or collocation please let me know!

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Chapter Three – I need to wake up

Erica was woken up by the few sun rays that sneaked their way through the blinds. A smile immediately formed on her lips as she felt the warm body next to her. The women had fallen asleep with her arms wrapped around Callie and this was exactly the position they were still in in the morning. Erica did not want to wake Callie, but she desperately needed to use the bathroom, so she tried to sneak her hand out from under Callie carefully. After she returned, Erica couldn't resist the temptation to take place in an armchair that was standing across from the bed to watch Callie sleep. The younger doctor looked so peaceful and happy and amazingly beautiful, as the sun reflected on her black hair and made her soft skin shine. Smiling to herself, Erica was still stunned that a woman like Callie would actually be interested in her and not just her as a doctor, but her as a person and as a lover. Erica knew very well that she was far from flawless, even though she liked to think of herself that way. Her medical skills were flawless, without a doubt, but while she was at the top of her game in the operating room, she never felt comfortable in social situations. Callie was the first person in a really long time who was able to make her open up a bit and who was genuinely accepting her for who she was. Thoughts of failing her lover crept into her head as she looked at the beauty in her bed and a single tear rolled down her cheek. Erica didn't like crying because it made her feel week, but in this moment she was so overwhelmed with her feelings that she couldn't hold back. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, trying to calm down.

"You're doing it again, watching me sleep. Why don't you come back to bed with me?" Callie asked seductively.

Erica smiled, surprised that Callie had just woken up in the exact moment she was not looking at her. Slowly, she rose out of the armchair and walked over to the bed, lying down next to Callie. The dark-haired beauty looked deep into her eyes, trying to read her emotions.

"Are you ok?"

Erica laughed, asking "Shouldn't I be the one asking this question?"

Callie didn't respond, her silence forcing Erica to answer her question.

"I'm fine, I was just thinking about this, about us…" she sighed, not knowing how to explain her feelings. Erica didn't want to hurt Callie's feelings, but she couldn't lie to the woman she loved either.

She sighed again, carefully choosing her words "I'm not good at this, you know? I'm not sociable and I haven't had that many relationships yet." The cardio goddess had to laugh at her own words. _One relationship, to be exact._ She was embarrassed and not ready to admit her social failings. "I don't want to hurt you. I can't promise you all the things you deserve, I can only promise you that I will never hurt you intentionally." She looked deep into the chocolate brown eyes, which were regarding her so intently.

_I should know better than that. Never make a promise to a patient or a family that you can't keep. Never make a promise to anyone that you might not be able to keep. __The only person that can keep promises that big is God. That's what her mentor had told her and she had lived by this mantra ever since._

Another tear rolled down her cheek, as her piercing blue eyes tried to show Callie how much love Erica possessed deep inside. Erica closed her eyes, fearing the hurt in her eyes might give away her uncertainty about the promise.

Callie was unsure why Erica was hurting. She felt safe with the older doctor and she trusted her, even though they had not been friends for long. She brushed away the tear and kissed Erica tenderly, trying to make her feel better.

"I trust you. After George … after he cheated on me, I felt as if I would never be able to open myself up to someone. Mark …" another sigh "… he was easy. He didn't expect any feelings from me and …" Callie trailed off, trying to sort her thoughts. "**I trust you.** I know that you would never hurt me. We'll take this slow. It's not like I've been in successful relationships either lately." Callie laughed, the seriousness of the situation evaporating. Erica's face lit up slightly and she wrapped her arms around Callie's luscious body, scooting closer to the young doctor. Normally, Erica despised close body contact, always searching for enough space to breath freely and on her own. But with Callie, everything was different and she just wanted to hold Callie close and feel her body radiate warmth.

The couple lay in the bed for some time, snuggling and drifting off into light sleep until Callie's stomach growled, making them both laugh.

"I'll take this a demand for breakfast."

"Can we eat in bed?" Callie asked, wanting to enjoy the closeness she was experiencing in this moment some more. Immediately, Erica's mind went in the gutter and she smiled at Callie mischievously.

Using her deepest voice and letting her eyes travel down the body of the younger woman, she replied: "Well, it depends on what you are hungry for". She wiggled her brows and grinned at Callie, trying hard not to break into laughter.


	4. Chapter Four Heal Me

**Title****:** Doctors don't make promises, do they?  
**Author**: Nelfy  
**Characters:** Callie Torres, Erica Hahn, Callica ship, slight mentions of Mark, Christina and Addison  
**Summary:** This fanfic shows what happened during the season 4 finale and goes further to explore the relationship between Callie and Erica.  
**Spoilers:** Starts with the season 4 finale  
**R****ating:** M  
**Disclaimer:** Characters belong to ABC and Shonda Rhimes

**Author's Note****:** Please review and let me know if you like my writing! I'll try to update at least every three days, but I can't promise anything. Any guesses already who the artist is whose title's I use for my chapters? Oh, and before I forget it again: I've never been in a relationship, so all the things I'm writing about are taken purely from my imagination, books and TV-shows. So don't sue me if something is unrealistic ;-). I made up some history for Erica, since we don't really know anything about her.

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**Chapter Four – Heal me**

Callie wasn't sure whether she was ready to take the next step, but she sure was ready for some teasing. Callie moved from under the covers, straddling Erica. Slowly, she started kissing the blond hottie and let her tongue circle Erica's lips. Then, the dark-haired beauty started to trace the line from Erica's ears down her neck to her collar bone, her hands roaming freely over Erica's exposed waist. She took a moment so look deeply into the blue eyes she loved so much and then let her hands sneak up further to the underside of Erica's breasts, stroking them slowly. The cardio goddess's breathe quickened and she felt her heart beat faster, waiting for Callie's next step.

"You know, I would love to have some French toast for breakfast" Callie gave Erica a peck on the lips and swiftly stood up, leaving Erica breathless and astonished. _Well, that's what I get from teasing her…_ Groaning inwardly, the blond woman stood up, making her way down to the kitchen, where Callie was already busy making breakfast.

After having eaten, the two doctors decided to stay at home for the day and find out whether they were ready to explore the feelings they had for each other. Erica did not want to pressure Callie into something she was not ready for and she was afraid of loosing both her friend and her lover if she rushed things. Without a doubt, they had a special bond, but neither was sure where this bond would lead them.

"So, what do you think?" Erica asked, deliberately not sitting down next to Callie on the sofa but taking place in her armchair to give the younger woman some space.

"I'm not sure. I've never been with a woman, this is new to me. Tell me what you want and I'll try to figure out whether I'll be able to give it to you."

Erica sighed, carefully choosing her next words.

"I don't want to influence you. I know how I feel, but I don't want you to say no to me, so I'll only go as far as you want to. If you want to be just friends, then we'll be just friends."

Now it was Callie's turn to sigh. _This is not going to get us anywhere_.

"Ok, I have an idea. I need some time to figure out how I really feel about all this without looking at you, because when I look at you I just can't think clear. When I look at you my mind just wanders to places that make my head spin." She smirked, and felt her knees go weak when she saw Erica look down timidly, her cheeks and ears turning red.

"Give me an hour. I'll write down all of my feelings and what I want and you do the same. And then we can compare our notes without influencing each other, and then we'll go from there. Okay?" Erica knew that she needed to let Callie figure this out on her own, so she agreed. She got up and brought some paper and pens and then retreated to her kitchen. It took her quite some willpower to not kiss Callie or immediately confess her love, but being a surgeon gave her the strength she needed.

_I will be ok, no matter what Callie __decides, I'll be alright. I've lived without Callie before and I'll be able to live without Callie again_. Erica snorted at her own thoughts, how was she supposed to live without Callie now that she had gotten to know this dark-haired beauty? Slowly, she started to write, pouring her heart out onto the paper. She wrote down things that she would probably never be able to say out loud, but it didn't matter to her. All that mattered was that Callie knew how much she meant to Erica.

_I want you. All of you.  
I want to be with you. All the time.  
I want to wake up with you in the morning and go to bed with you at night.  
I want us to go out on dates, go dancing and enjoy dinner at exotic restaurants.  
I want to dream of our future. A future spent together, exploring the world.  
I want there to be an us, facing the world together.  
I want to show you where I grew up and where I spent my summers.  
I want you to show me where you grew up and where you spent your summers.  
I want to get to know you, just like you know me without even trying.  
I want to never let go of you.  
I want to be with you. All the time.  
I want you. All of you._

Erica rewrote what she had written only once, deciding that going with the truth was the only option. When she read her list again, she realised that she had not written about work at all. There was no mention of surgeries, patients, doctors and hospitals. Surgery had always dominated Erica's world, ever since she started her internship at Mercy West. The cardiothoracic surgeon's world revolved around medicine, medicine was all she breathed and lived for. But since Callie had kissed her the day before, she had not once thought about holding a scalpel or feeling a heart beat in her hands, as she had for once listened to her own heart beat. Slowly, panic was starting to creep up Erica's body, her breathing and heart beat growing faster. Would she be able to be a surgeon and a lover to Callie? She knew that working with Callie would get increasingly more difficult the more intimate they got.

Erica had experienced this situation once before, with Tess. They spent so much time together that it had sometimes been near impossible for Erica to keep her fingers off of Tess during work, and she had spent all her time and energy on trying to _**concentrate on being**_ a surgeon that she had no energy left for actually _**being**_ one. When Erica had nearly lost a patient, a little girl non the less, because she had been busy checking out Tess all day, she had decided to end the relationship and be professional, even at the cost of breaking two hearts. She had decided that relationships at work were simply not an option, and shutting herself off from other people was far easier than dealing with loosing a patient when she had NOT done all she could have. Tess had left to do her residency in New York after their intern exam and Erica had been so relieve to not see her again it had actually hurt. But she trusted herself and her position. No emotions at work. Not for other doctors, nurses and definitely not for patients. Science was enough for Erica, and when science failed her every now and then she retreated to going to bars and picking up random guys. With her good looks and determination, it was always easy for the surgeon to find a guy who was interested in spending the night, keeping her warm and scratching her itch until the morning came and she could rekindle with science.

But now, that the emotions Erica had buried so deep had been easily set free by Callie, she needed to face the truth. Erica did not have relationships at work. She didn't. It was as simple as that. Medicine consumed her, so much sometimes that she stopped being a human being all together. The surgeon was very well aware of the fact that she was cruel at times, but science didn't have feelings. Science did not CARE about feelings. Science meant facts. Facts such as the one that Erica didn't have relationships at work.

After Erica left the living room, Callie felt a tad lonely. She enjoyed Erica's company so much that she missed not having her around. When she was honest with herself, Callie had even missed Erica when she had been intimate with Mark. Callie sat back, letting the events of the last night and morning sink in. The dark-haired beauty knew that she wanted Erica, she wanted to be with her and enjoy her company. But George had hurt her like she had never been hurt before and she didn't want to risk having her heart ripped out again by going too fast. She only needed to make that mistake once. Slowly, Callie started to write, each word making her more confident that Erica would never hurt her like that. After all, Erica's profession was to mend broken hearts, so she would be able to heal Callie's.

_I know that I like you and that you like me and that is enough for me to give us a chance. We need to take it slow, you need to give me time to open up. George hurt me, bad, and even though I wish that I could say I'm over him, I'm not quite over the pain and the humiliation. I want us to go out on dates, go dancing, like we already did so many times. I want you to take me out to dinner and I want us to have interesting conversations about all the world and his wife. We can take our time getting to know each other and also getting to know our bodies. We will set the pace and we will figure out a way to do this right. I don't want to tell anyone at work yet, not because I want to hide this amazing thing, but because I can't stand people gossiping about me again. I've had enough of that with this whole George fiasco, so if we could just be friends at work that would be really great. You just need to give me some time to let my heart grow complete again. I just need to give you some time to heal my heart. I heard you are an expert in that area._

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A/N: I've rewritten parts of this chapter about three or four times and I'm still not certain whether I got the tone right, but I hope you liked it non the less. I didn't think that romance would be so hard to write.


	5. Chapter Five This Moment

**Title****:** Doctors don't make promises, do they?  
**Author**: Nelfy  
**Characters:** Callie Torres, Erica Hahn, Callica ship, slight mentions of Mark, Christina and Addison  
**Summary:** This fanfic shows what happened during the season 4 finale and goes further to explore the relationship between Callie and Erica.  
**Spoilers:** Starts with the season 4 finale  
**R****ating:** M  
**Disclaimer:** Characters belong to ABC and Shonda Rhimes  
**Author's Note****:** I couldn't sleep last night, so I already have another two chapters in my head. That's why I decided to post twice today.

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**Chapter Five – This moment**

Erica was still pondering about science and medicine when Callie's head popped into the kitchen. "I'm ready if you are." Erica looked up, uncertain of what to expect, but even though she was as far away from ready as humanly possible, she still nodded her head and said "Let's go and sit down in the living room." Standing up, Erica lead Callie back into the living room, where they lay down their wants written out neatly on paper.

"So… we swap?" Callie inquired, curious what Erica had written. Smiling, Erica handed the younger woman her piece of paper and picked up Callie's. But instead of reading Callie's, she just watched as Callie started reading, her mouth slightly open in fascination. When the Latina finished reading, she looked up at Erica watching her. Unsure what to say, she asked "Are you not going to read mine?". Smiling, Erica release the breath she had held unconsciously and did just that. When the blond read the last sentence, small tears had formed in her eyes and as she looked up at Callie, who was studying her intently, she couldn't help but release one. The tear ran down her cheek, followed by Callie's eyes, who furrowed her brows. "Damn it!" Startled, Callie sat upright, furrowing her brows even more at the sudden outburst of the older doctor.

"I swear to god, I'm not a crier. I'm not emotional like that." Erica snuffled and used her sleeve to angrily brush away the tears that kept spilling. "You turn me into someone who cries about some beautiful words like a helpless romantic!" Callie couldn't help but laugh at Erica's words. She was more than happy with the power she had over Erica, even though she would, for her own safety, not mention that right now. For once, Callie realised, she had the power in her hands that George had had over her when they were dating. _I'm not going to misuse it like he did, I'm going to do this right!_

Erica read the words again, her resolve against workplace relationships melting away like ice in the sunshine. "I don't usually have relationships at work. That's just not me. I like to keep my private life strictly separated from my work life. This is going to be difficult with you, but since you are ortho and I'm cardio we probably won't work together that much anyways. I'm glad that you feel the same way, because I just can't have people talking about my private life." Erica stunned Callie with her speech, as the younger doctor thought that them working together would be the least of their problems. But she realised that Erica hated the gossip in the hospital and tried to stay out of it at all cost.

"Okay" was all that Callie was able to stutter. She knew how much Erica guarded her private life and she understood that. "We've already been friends before, so nobody will know the difference. And my days spent in on-call rooms are SO over" Both woman chuckled, then smiled at each other and moved in to steal a chaste kiss.

Erica leaned back, looking at Callie's nice script. "I think I'll frame this. I want to keep the memory." She smiled at Callie again and the younger woman moved in to really kiss her now, telling her that she liked her very much by tracing her lips with her tongue. They kissed for some minutes, hands cupping cheeks, the heat between them rising and both wanted more. More tongue. More body contact. Just _**more**_. Slowly, they broke apart, breathing heavy.

"I think that going slow might not work out so well if you attack me like that" Erica smirked, knowing very well that she had reciprocated just as much as Callie had given her.

"Who knows, I might have changed my mind already. You're the one to blame, when you say all those nice things and look. just. so. good." Callie punctuated each word with her eyes falling over a different part of Erica's body, while her fingers traced the path her eyes took, starting with "look" on her lips, "just" on Erica's neck, "so" had Callie inspect Erica's breast and the "good" finally lead her eyes back to Erica's. Erica shuddered under Callie's touch, but did not move away. However, she was profoundly blushing by now, very aware of the fact that Callie had openly checked her out and seemingly enjoyed what she saw. The older woman let her fingers trace along the dark-haired woman's lips, leaning in to kiss her again. Even though they had been seriously making out just a minute ago, this kiss was timid and soft, full of promises that could not be expressed through words.

As soon as Callie moved her hands over Erica's breast, cupping them softly, their kissing got more urgent. Erica moaned when Callie's fingers brushed over her nipples, which Callie could feel growing hard under the red shirt Erica was wearing. Just as Callie let her hands fall to the hem of her lover's shirt,…

* * *

A/N: I had a really hard time with Erica's inner voice in this chapter, so please let me know whether you think I got it right. We know so little about Dr. Hahn that writing her is way harder than writing Callie. Also, I know that I'm mean, ending on a cliffhanger like that, but I have to keep you interested, don't I?


	6. Chapter Six Down to One

**Title****:** Doctors don't make promises, do they?  
**Author**: Nelfy  
**Characters:** Callie Torres, Erica Hahn, Callica ship, slight mentions of Mark, Christina and Addison  
**Summary:** This fanfic shows what happened during the season 4 finale and goes further to explore the relationship between Callie and Erica.  
**Spoilers:** Starts with the season 4 finale  
**R****ating:** M  
**Disclaimer:** Characters belong to ABC and Shonda Rhimes

**Author's Note****:** Dr. Erica Hahn is really giving me a hard time. And I'm having writer's block, mainly because my mum is driving me crazy. Living at home – not so much fun anymore.

* * *

**Chapter Six – Down to one**

Just as Callie let her hands fall to the hem of her lover's shirt, her phone rang, making them break apart hastily as if someone had walked in on them kissing. Callie groaned, then stood up to get her purse which still lay next to the sofa where she had let it fall the previous evening. She answered the call, sitting back down on the armrest.

"This better be important."  
"Why, am I interrupting some Sapphic loving?"  
Callie groaned. "What do you want?"  
"I just wanted to check and see if you needed anything. You know. ANYTHING you two might be missing." Callie could practically see Mark smirk before her eyes.  
"I'm going to hang up."  
"What, don't you enjoy my dirty talk anymore?"  
"I thought we had already established that I liked the object of said talk." Erica looked at Callie, furrowing her brows. _She's probably wondering who I'm talking to._

"Touché. I just wanted to check on you and see whether you are fine." The tone of his voice showed Callie that Mark was serious this time.  
"I'm fine. Actually I'm better than fine." Callie smiled at Erica, indicating that everything was good. The older woman was still unable to make any sense of the conversation.  
"So, you and Hahn are now a couple? You know, I never thought that you would be my competition to get into her pants. Maybe that's why she was able to resist me, because she had already laid her eyes on you." Callie laughed, as she had not yet forgotten Mark's attempts to woo Erica.  
"You know, I have this feeling that even without me, you wouldn't have gotten into her pants." Erica squirmed, as she realised that Callie was probably talking to _**Mark,**_ about _**her**_, non the less.

"So she's a full-blown lesbian?" Mark inquired, his curiosity getting the upper hand over his tactfulness.  
"Hm, honestly I don't know. And even if I did, I probably wouldn't tell you. You know, there's this thing called _**privacy**_. You probably haven't heard of it, but it means respecting that some things are not made for your ears." Even though Callie was not interested in Mark any more, she still loved to tease and banter with him. Erica, in the meanwhile, felt very self-conscious listening to Callie's phone conversation, so she left the living room to make some sandwiches in the kitchen.  
"So you are not going to give me anything in return for my help? That's not fair! I was hoping to at least get some juice details, now that I've given up my sex buddy."  
"Mark!" Callie tried to put as much outrage as possible into her voice, but then had to laugh at his wording. Sex buddy didn't sound too bad to her. "Listen, Erica and I, we are taking it slow and we don't want people to gossip about us at work. So, I would really appreciate it if you could keep this thing that we have to yourself for now."  
"Any chance I get at least a little picture of you two in bed together in return for keeping your '_**thing'**_ a secret."  
"MARK!" This time, Callie really was outraged. He couldn't possibly be serious about that. At the same time, the way he had stressed the word 'thing' had reminded her of the conversation she had had with Erica in the scrub room about friendships and the 'thing' that she had had going with Mark at that time.  
"I'm just kidding. I won't tell anyone, I promise. I thought that we are friends, so if you promise me to still go out on a beer every once in a while and bring your hot girlfriend along so I can stare at her I won't tell anyone a thing. Not even Derek!"

Callie could hear in his voice that he was serious, but he also sounded a bit sad. _Mark really thinks that we are friends. Not just sex buddies, but friends._ "I promise. But please don't hit on her anymore, if you can help it. How are things with Derek anyways?"  
"You know." Mark sighed, indirectly telling Callie that he didn't want to talk about it. "Listen, why don't you give your super-hot heart surgeon girlfriend a kiss from me and go back to what you were doing when I called. And I'll go back to lesbian porn and just imagine that that's you and Erica on my screen. How does that sound?"  
"Both of those suggestions don't sound right to me. But thanks for calling and I'll see you at work tomorrow, okay?"  
"Great! You might have to treat me for carpal tunnel syndrome anyways, now that I've lost my sex buddy." Callie laughed at his comment.  
"Is sex all you can think about?"  
"Sadly, yes. This reputation as a manwhore didn't just appear out of nowhere." Callie laughed again. _Mark is my friend, even if most of our conversations revolve around sex.  
_"Don't worry, I'm the best in my specialty. I'll talk to you tomorrow!"  
"Okay. Bye, have a nice day with _**Dr. Hahn**_."  
"Bye." Callie hung up, laughing at their conversation. _Did he just really say all that? Did _**I**_ just really listen all that?_

Still chuckling, she went into the kitchen to find Erica.

"Sorry about that. Mark just wanted to know whether I'm fine."  
"What did you tell him?" Erica's cold tone startled her.  
"That I'm good. And I told him to not tell anyone about us and he promised, so we won't have to worry about him."  
Erica turned around, staring at her, her blue eyes cold and hard. "You told **SLOAN** about us? Seriously, Callie, what where you **thinking**?"

Callie backed away, suddenly very aware of Erica's expression. Her face looked hard like stone and she looked angry and hurt at the same time.  
"I didn't tell him. He realised that I liked you before I realised it and told me to follow my heart. And he saw us kissing yesterday. I didn't tell him, HE told ME!"  
Erica let out a long breath, her face muscles relaxing. "Okay." There was a short pause in which Erica seemed to gather her thoughts. "That was a long conversation just to tell him that you are fine." Her stubborn side was taking control of the conversation, whether she liked it or not.

'_She's jealous. Oh my god, Erica Hahn is jealous!' _Callie realised. _'Well, I've given her every right to be jealous, I did sleep with him after all.'_

"Erica, Mark and I are just friends. He knows that I was never really interested in him and he also knows that I'm with you know. He even called you my super-hot girlfriend!" Callie smiled, closely watching Erica's reaction. The older woman chuckled and then realised that she had startled Callie with her outburst.  
"Just friends, hm? Does this mean that he will stop watching my surgeries and mentally undressing me while I have my hands on a heart?" Erica kept her tone light and teasing, her way of apologising to the younger woman.  
"Well, I really can't promise THAT." They both laughed and then kissed lightly to brush away the tension of their first disagreement.  
"So, you hungry? I made us sandwiches." Erica was more than happy to steer their conversation into safe waters.  
"Um, yeah, actually I am." The cardio goddess put the plate with the sandwiches on her kitchen table, on which she had already set plates and glasses.

Callie smiled sheepishly at how well Erica took care of her. "Thanks. Listen, I need to go home in the afternoon, I really need to shower." They both started eating, hungry despite their late breakfast.  
"Oh, okay. You do know that you can use my shower if you want to, right?"  
"Thanks, but I want to change into some fresh cloths as well. I thought you could drive me to the apartment and I'll just shower real quick and then I'll take you out to dinner. I know this amazing little Thai place that you'll love!"  
"I can just drop you off at you place, then you don't have to rush your shower, and we'll meet at the restaurant later, how about that?" Erica tried to show Callie very clearly what she wanted without actually saying so, but Callie saw right through the attempt.  
"Is there something wrong with my apartment that you don't want to go there?" Callie asked innocently.  
Erica sighed, admitting defeat. "Well, it **is** Yang's apartment and I don't really want to meet her there." Callie tried not to grin. _This is going way better than I thought!  
_"On her days off, Cristina spends all her time at Meredith's place, so we won't meet her, I promise!"  
Erica sighed, giving in "Okay, I'll go inside, but if Yang is there, I'm leaving!" Callie grinned at her, relieved that Erica had been looking at her sandwich and had therefore not noticed Callie's fingers, which were behind her back – crossed.

A/N: Callie's up to something


	7. Chapter Seven Heroes and Friends

**Title****:** Doctors don't make promises, do they?  
**Author**: Nelfy  
**Characters:** Callie Torres, Erica Hahn, Callica ship, slight mentions of Mark, Christina and Addison  
**Summary:** This fanfic shows what happened during the season 4 finale and goes further to explore the relationship between Callie and Erica.  
**Spoilers:** Starts with the season 4 finale  
**Rating:** M  
**Disclaimer:** Characters belong to ABC and Shonda Rhimes

**Author's Note****:** Callie's POV, still working on her plan. I enjoy writing that, you enjoy reading it??

**

* * *

**

Chapter Seven – Heroes and Friends

After we had eaten lunch, we talked about cement boy and his case, pondering over all the medical details and whether the Chief would publish an article about our work. Erica loved to be published, so she would prefer writing the article by herself, but I reminded her that she needed to step back and let the Chief decide who would get to write the article. At 5 o'clock, Erica decided to shower and change for dinner, leaving me enough time to make some calls.

As soon as I heard the water run, I called Cristina to get the second part of my plan into action.

"Yeah?" Great, Cristina was her friendly and happy self, as usual.  
"Hey. Are you at home later?" I tried to sound casual, hoping that Cristina would not start asking any questions.  
"Yeah, Meredith is here right now, but she'll go out to dinner soon, so I'll be here alone. Where were you last night anyways?"  
"I stayed at Erica's place, we had a few things to discuss." Little white lies that I better get used to.  
"Did she tell you about the Chief and how he dressed her down?" Shit. I heard Cristina snicker, then she caught herself and, since I hadn't said anything, asked "Callie, you still there? I gather she hasn't told you about that."  
"What happened?"  
Clearly, Cristina loved this, as she drew out her response. "Well, the chief told her that she had to teach me or she had to find another workplace, because he wouldn't accept her behavior. And then he said some stuff about residents being puppies. You felt like a puppy lately?" Shit, shit, shit. This could seriously mess up my plans. I sighed, then realised that Cristina had actually said puppies.

"What? Why are we puppies? What the heck?"  
"Well, apparently we are eager and want to be petted." Sometimes I just had to laugh about the Chief's attempts at philosophy.  
"I guess your chances at getting petted by Attila the Hahn are way better than mine, but I would still appreciate it if she actually let me hold a scalpel every now and then". God, Cristina knows something. I let her comment slide, changing back to the initial topic.

"Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about later. So, if you are at home then we can discuss this, okay? I prefer doing this in person."  
"Hey, that's fine with me. As long as I get in on her surgeries, I'll do what you tell me to" I smiled. Cristina didn't have a clue what I was planning on doing, but I knew that she would not be disrespectful towards Erica in front of her again. She was way too smart for that.  
"Okay, good. Then I'll see you later! Bye!"  
"Bye" I hung up, grinning at how well my plan was working out. The fact that Erica hadn't mentioned her run-in with the Chief wasn't exactly great, but I knew that if I tried hard enough I would break through her barriers of stubbornness.

I decided to make reservations at the Thai place, securing one of the best tables, which was slightly secluded and therefore would allow us enough privacy during dinner. The last call for today would be Addison, as Erica would soon be finished with her shower.

"Hey stranger. Is there this major time difference between us that makes it impossible for you to call?"  
"Hi Callie. I'm sorry, I know I'm a horrible friend. I delivered seven babies in the last two weeks, two sets of twins. I swear to god, I have never even spent half the time that I spend with my patients here in the practise with my intensive care patients in the hospital. How's Mark? Are you still wearing him out?"  
"What? I doubt that I could wear Mark out."  
"I've heard different things." I gasped, since when did gossip travel to different cities?  
"Who said that I am wearing Mark out? That's so not true. He didn't complain once."  
"Well, Mark told me that you have quite an appetite. He told me that he had never had that much sex within a week." I grinned, knowing very well that the thoughts of Erica had made me slightly insatiable.

"How come you talk to Mark about my sex life but you don't have the time to talk to me about my feelings?"  
"Well, he tells me the truth and you just deny it. That's why I talk to him about you. He's my way of finding out whether you are doing okay." Aw. Even though Mark and Addison's relationship was strained, their friendships with me was able to get them talking.  
"You didn't even immediately deny that you are denying the truth. What happened?"  
"Well, I realised that you were right. Erica and I do look like a couple, so why not try it. I kissed her, yesterday. But it was different than when she kissed me in front of Mark. It was just us, you know?"  
"You really like her. I'm glad that you realised that you like her, life is too short to waste time with meaningless sex. Have you started wearing her out?" Addison chuckled, she always loved to tease me.

"Hey! Number one, meaningless sex does not equal wasted time, you should know that. You know, been there, done that? As much as I hate admitting it, but Mark really knows what he's doing!" I had to defend his honor her, seeing that Addison had given up on him so easily.  
Addison laughed again, then asked "What's number two? Erica has a matching appetite?"  
I groaned and felt my cheeks grow hot. I was blushing over a phone conversation. "I don't know anything about her appetite, we are taking it slow. Rushing things hasn't done me any favors."  
"Good for you! Even though I'm surprised that you haven't jumped each others bones weeks ago in the hospital. You should have seen your face when Erica removed that hair from your lip gloss. Priceless!" I groaned again, humiliated by the memory. Erica's touch had made me tingle all over, unable to move.  
"Are you just going to tease me? Because if you are, then I'm going to hang up."

"Why, do you have anything better to do then let me tease you?" During Addison's question, Erica had entered the living room, dressed to kill in fitting black pants and a fiery red shirt that showed a bit of her cleavage. I just stared at her, unable to put my appreciation into words. Erica looked hot, there was simply no other way to put it. Her hair was curly, a style she rarely wore because it made her look softer. It definitely made my knees go soft and I was glad that I was already sitting on the sofa, because I would probably have fallen over staring at her.

"Callie? Are you still there? Callie? Hello?" I realised that Addison was still talking, so I drew my eyes away from Erica to be able to form a coherent sentence.  
"Yeah, I'm sorry. Still here. I'm taking Erica out to dinner, so I gotta go now. We'll talk later, okay?"  
"Yeah, okay. Have a nice evening and send her my regards. Bye"  
"I will. Bye." I turned to Erica again, still unable to tell her how much I liked her outfit. Erica just smiled sheepishly, aware of the fact that her entrance had rendered me speechless.

"You… ahem, you look stunning." I cleared my throat, remembering Addison's words. "Addison sends her regards." Erica smiled at me, thanking me and then stretching out her hand towards mine. "Are you ready to go?" I took her hand, silently following her to the door.

We were quiet in the car, mostly because I was still unable to really say anything meaningful. I stole sideways glances at Erica, appreciating how her blond hair shone against her red shirt. The shirt was a tight fit, giving away enough for me to imagine what she would look like without it on. Erica looked completely calm, which bothered me a bit. I needed to have at least some control over her for what I was planning on doing. If everything else failed, I would trade sex and dates for surgeries. I just wasn't sure whether my friendship with Cristina was worth that.

I definitely needed to find something similarly amazing to wear tonight. While I pondered over my choices of what to wear, Erica was already pulling up in front of the apartment building. Well, now or never, if I wanted to wrap her around my finger I needed to do it right now.

Erica turned off the motor so I leaned over, taking her face into my hands and kissing her lightly. "I don't think I really told you how amazing you look. You turned down my brain functions." I leaned back slightly, trading my fingers through her curls. "I love your hair that way. Just for future reference – I expect you to wear it like that to every single one of our dates." I smiled at her, kissing her again. I felt her sigh against my mouth, allowing me to suck in her lower lip. If that didn't do the trick, then nothing would work. "Come on, lets get inside."

* * *

A/N: To quote Sara "Something's gonna go down."

Am I explaining and describing too much? I'm really taking my time with this, but if it is boring you, please tell me! I'm not sure whether I have found the balance between describing situations and real action yet.


	8. Chapter Eight Will you still love me

**Title****:** Doctors don't make promises, do they?  
**Author**: Nelfy  
**Characters:** Callie Torres, Erica Hahn, Callica ship, slight mentions of Mark, Christina and Addison  
**Summary:** This fanfic shows what happened during the season 4 finale and goes further to explore the relationship between Callie and Erica.  
**Spoilers:** Starts with the season 4 finale  
**Rating:** M  
**Disclaimer:** Characters belong to ABC and Shonda Rhimes

**Author's Note****:** Thank you for all your comments, they make my day, seriously!! I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint, Callie's plan isn't that out of the ordinary. But at least the update is really long!!

* * *

**Chapter Eight – Will you still love me**

As we rode the elevator, I was beginning to get nervous. What if my genius plan didn't work out and I pissed Erica off – then I could forget all about my date and our relationship. Maybe getting involved in this feud that Cristina and Erica had going on wasn't the best idea. On the other hand, I was already in the middle of it all and if I didn't act now, I might lose Cristina as a friend and her living room as my bedroom. And one thing was certain: I was not going to live in a hotel again. The Archfield gave me and my love life bad juju.

I opened the door to our apartment and let Erica step inside first, cutting off her escape route.

"Hey Callie. What did you want to" was all Cristina was able to say before she saw Erica and stopped dead in her tracks. She had made it perfectly clear that she didn't want to see Attila the Hahn, as she called Erica lovingly, in her apartment anymore. Erica glared at me the way she glared at interns who couldn't answer her questions. I used the moment of surprise to tell them to sit down. Both started protesting at once.

"Shut up, both of you! Sit down, right now!" Now was my turn to glare, even though I definitely wasn't as good as either one of them. Let's face it, I didn't stand a chance against Doctor Erica Hahn, but I hoped that the power I had over her would work now. Surprisingly, both sat down, albeit as far away from each other as possible. I leaned against the kitchen island, thinking about what to say.

"I don't really know why you two hate each other and I don't want to know" Protest from both. "BUT, you have both been great friends to me, each in your own way, so I'm going to try and fix this." Interestingly enough, they were silent this time.

"I think I owe you an apology Cristina. I realise that I should have done this sooner, after all you tried to ask me for my help. Or at least blackmail me into helping you." I turned to Erica whose face was completely void of emotion. I looked into her eyes, trying to catch a glimpse of what she was thinking or feeling, but she had very clearly shut me out completely. She raised her eyebrows, challenging me to speak.

"Here's what we are going to do. Erica, you'll let Cristina scrub in on your surgeries the next three shifts. And you'll actually let her operate as well" Protest from Erica, a big grin on Cristina's face. "Cristina, you will back off, do you understand me? You do exactly what Erica tells you, no more. If that means that you have to sit around and twiddle your thumbs, then that's what you will do."

"And why would I do that?" I groaned inwardly, I knew that Erica wouldn't just give in.

"Because, first of all Cristina will let you do your work in relative peace and quiet and second, you would want to do a favor to your friend who will then owe you big." I grinned at her, trying to flirt without Cristina noticing what was going on.

"Now shake hands!" Both reluctantly stretched out their hands into my direction, making me grin at the irony of it all. They were so much alike that that was probably their main problem. "No, you two shake hands." They shook hands, grudgingly agreeing to my proposal. I let out the breath that I had been holding since I stepped into the elevator, relieved that they hadn't killed each other and that Erica was still here. That was too easy.

"So, while I shower, you can go over the procedures you have planned for tomorrow. And please don't kill each other while I'm gone, okay." Neither laughed, but at least Erica started firing questions at Cristina while I retrieved my cloths.

I didn't take my time, as I would have usually, to not leave them alone for too long. I even left my hair a bit wet and curly, as straightening it would have taken ages. I did, however, take my time to put on makeup and jewellery that went well with my outfit. I had chosen tight fitting jeans and a turquoise shirt which showed off my curves and a necklace that drew attention to my cleavage. I realised that Erica, while she was in no way thick or overweight, did have some curves herself and would therefore not care that I didn't look like supermodel Izzie Stevens. Putting the finishing touches on my makeup, I checked myself one last time in the mirror and then flashed a smile at my reflection to reassure myself that I looked good.

I was nervous. As much as I hated admitting this, I was nervous. This was my first real date after my divorce and with a woman none the less, so I was allowed to be nervous. But I had never been the type to be nervous. When I saw someone I liked, I went there and drew him in with my charm. I never doubted my looks. **Never**. But now, I was nervous. What if Erica liked slim girls? What if I couldn't compete with her previous girlfriend? What if my inexperience with lesbian relationships made her lose interest in me? Taking a deep breath, I decided that making myself crazy wouldn't help and so I stepped into the living room, where Erica was still quizzing Cristina.

Erica looked up, letting her eyes travel up and down my body, her mouth slightly open. She didn't say anything at all. Great. She looked like she enjoyed my outfit, but her silence might as well have been courtesy to not lie. I smiled at her nervously, then turned to Cristina.

"We are going out to dinner, but I'll come back home later on. You work tomorrow, right?"  
"Yeah, I start at eight."  
"Okay, then we can ride to work together." I smiled, then turned to Erica to ask "You ready to go?"  
Erica cleared her throat, still saying nothing and got up.  
"Bye, see you later"  
"Bye. Bye Dr. Hahn, have a nice dinner"  
"I'll see you tomorrow at eight sharp, Yang."

Erica really was unable to say _anything_ remotely nice to Cristina.

* * *

We rode the elevator in silence. I was afraid to say anything, my date did have the right to be angry at me after my ambush. When we stepped outside, I told her that we could walk if she wanted to. She nodded, her face still void of emotion. I took her hand, feeling her clench next to me, but thankfully she didn't shake my hand off either. Careful, Torres. Don't aggravate her more. Erica looked around and when she saw that nobody was near us or looking, she relaxed into my touch. When a couple stepped out onto the street a few meters in front of us, she did however move away and slipped out of my hand.

I sighed, then decided to get it over with. Better have a fight with her on the street than in the restaurant.

"Are you mad at me? I would understand if you were."  
"No, not really. I would have appreciated a warning, but I understand why you did what you did. She's your friend and I might not have treated her very nicely."  
"Wow. Did the impeccable Doctor Erica Hahn just admit to making a mistake?" I was honestly shocked by her admission. "Why don't you like her?"  
"First, I feel like she slept her way to the top. She slept with both Burke and Colin Marlow. Second, she is clearly trying to suffocate me. I can't get a single moment alone unless I push her away hard enough and even then she comes bouncing right back. It drives me crazy."

"She really loved Burke, you know? She was willing to do all the things she despised so much because she loved him. I was there, she asked me to be one of her bridesmaids because Meredith was once again too involved in her own McDreamy drama and Izzie was so cheerful it made Cristina sick. She just wanted to go to the city hall, dressed in her street cloths and sign the necessary papers. But she wore the dress, she chose the cake that she couldn't care less about and she dealt with both of their mothers because she loved him. And then he left before she even had walked down the aisle."

"And you weren't cheerful? How come?" Wow, so that was what she was interested in after my little story?  
"I just wasn't all giddy like Izzie, I'm not romantic like that. I eloped in Vegas, after all." I smiled, even though my failed marriage still hurt.  
"So, there's a picture of you somewhere in a ridiculously hideous pink bridesmaids dress?" Erica smiled at me, her brows raised.  
"No, there isn't. I don't think we actually took any pictures that day. But the dress that I wore was actually nice. And it wasn't pink, thank god, it was brown. Cristina wouldn't have made us wear pink dresses."  
"I didn't know that it was that serious. She definitely has the knowledge to become a great surgeon. She answered all of my questions correctly without even thinking about them. I might have to try and treat her like a human being."  
"Oh no, don't do that. George used to call her a robot. Cristina is a surgeon first, not a person. She actually said that!"

We both laughed, but it felt as if Erica laughed just because I did. I looked at her, trying to see what she was thinking.  
"I was a surgeon first too before I met you." And just like that, Erica Hahn had once again melted my heart.  
"If you are trying to seduce me, you have officially succeeded right now." I smiled at her, leaning in for a kiss. Erica, however, didn't lean in, but looked around self consciously to check whether someone was looking at us. So no PDA for me. I sighed, trying to let my disappointment not show on my face.

"Come on, lets get going. I'm hungry."

* * *

The food was amazing and the wine as well as our conversation flowed freely. We talked about Cristina and her little circle of friends and what kind of interns we had been. I proudly told her that I had been the best at my intern exam, to which Erica replied "You are an amazing doctor, I wouldn't have expected less from you". Complementing me seemed to come easy to her and it made me smile. We were interested in the same things and had matching priorities. No wonder we worked so good as friends (and more). I couldn't help but ask her about her ex-girlfriend.

"So, you had a girlfriend during your internship? Tell me about her."  
"Well, there's not much to say. Her name was Tess and we dated for some time. She left for New York to do her residency there and I stayed in Seattle. That's it."  
"Did you stay in contact?"  
"No, our break-up wasn't that great." Erica fell silent, clearly uncomfortable talking about this subject, so I decided to change the topic slightly.  
"What about your other relationships? I bet there are more doctors like Sloan who are immensely drawn to your talent." She grinned, flattered by my observation.  
"There were. But I resisted them as easily as I resisted Sloan. Am I really the first woman you have ever had feelings for?" And just like that, we were back to talking about me.

As we walked back to my apartment, Erica tried to convince me to go back to her place with her.

"We both work tomorrow morning and I think we need all the sleep we can get. I have a 48 hour shift ahead of me."  
"I wasn't talking about doing anything apart from sleeping. I just want to bottle how I feel right now for the next 48 hours during which I might not see you at all." Damn. Erica Hahn had a way with words that made the butterflies in my stomach go wild.  
"Remember, you owe me!"  
"I want us to go slow and I want to spend the night with you only on special occasions. Okay? You should keep that favor for something important. We'll have lunch tomorrow."  
"Okay, so lunch it is." Erica checked the street again, then leaned in for a short kiss. She looked deeply into my eyes as if she were looking into my soul. "Good night, sleep well." I was able to stumble a "'Night" before she closed her car door and drove off. Erica Hahn didn't just have a way with words, she had a way with my heart as well.

* * *

Cristina was sitting at the kitchen island, studying over what looked like a dozen books.

"You're still up?"  
"Yeah, I want to prepare for tomorrow. How was your McDate?" I laughed a fake laugh, as if laughing off the notion that we were on a date would convince Cristina.  
"We just had dinner, that wasn't a date."  
"Yeah, sure, whatever. Do you think I'm blind AND dumb?" Damn it. Cristina normally didn't care about other people's business, but her asking me about the date meant that she would talk to other people as well.  
"Is it that obvious?"  
"Well, yes. That trick you pulled on her tonight would have gotten you killed if you hadn't slept with her. Besides, she completely froze when you came out of the bed room, mentally undressing you."  
"I haven't slept with her" Yet.  
"What's the hold up? Lacking the experience?"  
"What is that supposed to mean? Do you have experience in that field?"  
"Who doesn't? That is the only thing that made my prom worth going. My mum made me go with a male date, but I left with my girlfriend." Cristina smirked at me, clearly enjoying herself.  
"How come everybody has slept with a woman before except for me?" I was going to completely embarrass myself, that was for sure.  
"Well, maybe 'cause you're ortho."  
"What does me being ortho have to do with my sex life?"  
"If you hadn't been ortho I would have probably jumped your bones. You're hot. Everybody knows that. Even Meredith knows that and she normally doesn't notice anyone who is not involved with McDreamy."  
"Well, George clearly didn't get the memo."  
"Oh, come on. Forget Bambi. He wasn't worthy of you anyways. I should have saved you from him, but I was already doing Burke."  
"What makes you so sure that I would have slept with you anyways?"

Cristina held up her hands, wiggling her fingers. "Surgeon's hands. Believe me, it doesn't get better than that. But you'll find that out soon, once Attila the Hahn has you screaming her name."  
"CRISTINA!" This conversation was going in the wrong direction. Why was every conversation with my friends revolving around sex lately? Could they all magically sense that I wasn't having any and therefore try to turn me on for the sake of making me squirm?  
"What? Sloan's not the only one who's attracted to her talent."

I just stared at her. How could she be attracted to Erica after Erica had treated her like crap? "Okay, so if you know so much about lesbian sex then help me out here. I don't want to make a fool out of myself. Anything important I should know?"

"Well, it depends what you want to do. But there are some simple rules. If she moves into your direction, you're doing it right. If she moves her hips away from you, change what you are doing. You know what you like, so do that. And if you plan on going down on her, remember: Breath through your nose. That's about it. It's not rocket science, you know? Just follow your feelings." That didn't sound too hard.  
"Thanks, Cristina." Now I just had to get her to not tell Meredith about me and Erica. "Do you remember when Izzie thought I would fight her in the cafeteria?"  
"Yeah, I do. Why?"  
"I had never been so humiliated in my life, not even in high school. And believe me, I'd been humiliated plenty in high school. I don't want people at work to gossip about me again. So please don't tell anyone about us. Not even Meredith, okay?"  
"Hey, that's your secret to share, not mine. Even though I doubt that I'm the only one who knows. You two just have a chemistry that can't be denied. And as long as that gets me into surgeries, I'm not going to complain." I smiled, we did have undeniable chemistry.

"About that. You really need to give Erica some space and back off a little. She feels like you are trying to suffocate her."  
"I'm not! I just need to be close to see what she's doing. How am I supposed to learn when I stand ten feet away?"  
"Just back off outside of the OR. Let her arrive in the morning without bombarding her as soon as she steps off the elevator, okay?  
"Fine. Maybe she'll let me perform surgery on my own once you go down on her." "CRISTINA! Enough with the going down. I'm NOT going to talk about my sex life with you ever again!"

Cristina smirked at me, telling me that she was clearly not finished with talking about sex. "Okay. Just tell me if I was right about her fingers. After all, they make hearts beat again, so she shouldn't have a problem making your OTHER heart beat all over"

"**CHRISTINA!**"

* * *

A/N: So much happened in one chapter. I had a bit of a problem with Cristina's dirty talk, did you like it or not? Her wisdom about lesbian sex is mainly courtesy of Shane from "The L Word".


	9. Chapter Nine Kiss Me

**Title****:** Doctors don't make promises, do they?  
**Author**: Nelfy  
**Characters:** Callie Torres, Erica Hahn, Callica ship, slight mentions of Mark, Christina and Addison  
**Summary:** This fanfic shows what happened during the season 4 finale and goes further to explore the relationship between Callie and Erica.  
**Spoilers:** Starts with the season 4 finale  
**Rating:** M  
**Disclaimer:** Characters belong to ABC and Shonda Rhimes

**Author's Note****: Thanks for your reviews, please keep them coming!!** Starts with Callie's POV, I like writing it that way more than I thought. I promise I will show Erica's perspective as well. (And I'm not a doctor, so my promises are worth something  ). After the first "cut", general POV. Sorry that I made you wait for this update so long, I've had a really hard time writing this chapter. It just didn't really flow the way I wanted it to flow. But I have loads of ideas for further chapters, so I should be able to write more soon. However, I started work today, so it still might take me one or two days to update again.

* * *

**Chapter Nine – Kiss Me**

The only time I saw Erica during the next few days was right on Wednesday morning when Cristina and Erica went off to surgery. She merely acknowledged my presence by nodding into my direction and throwing a curt "Dr. Torres" my way. She paged me during lunch to say she was stuck in surgery and wouldn't make it. I had time to catch up with Sloan and examine his wrist, which was still intact.

After my 48-hour shift ended Friday morning, I couldn't wait to get home and fall into bed. When I woke up Friday evening, I had already missed two calls and received two text message. One from Erica, who invited me to dinner on Saturday and one from Mark, asking me to meet him for drinks at Joe's. As Cristina wasn't home, I figured the cardio surgeons were still at the hospital. I called Mark and told him I would be at Joes in twenty minutes, then tried Erica's cell, only to be directed straight to voice mail. I left a message, hoping I could meet her at Joe's.

Joe's was packed, since it was Friday evening, but Mark had reserved us a small table and had already ordered two beers. Just as I sat down next to him, Cristina entered the bar, looking tired. I waved her over, knowing she could tell me where Erica was.

"Hey. Did you just leave the hospital?"  
"Yeah. I owe you big, Dr. Hahn actually let me perform a **bypass** all by myself! That was amazing! She corrected me a few times, but I did all the work!" Her excitement about the surgery could be seen clearly all over her face, even though she was exhausted. What surprised me even more was that she had called Erica 'Dr. Hahn', which meant that Erica was doing what I had asked her to do.  
"Do you know whether Erica is still at the hospital?"  
"She already left. I'm gonna go sit with Meredith and Izzie, ok? Tell me when you go back home, I'll need a ride."  
"Yeah, I will". That was strange. If Erica had already left, why didn't she show up at Joe's or at least leave a message on my cell. I checked my phone, which showed no new messages or missed calls.  
"You okay? Maybe she was just too tired to call." I looked up, surprised that Mark knew what I was wondering about.  
"Yeah, maybe. I think I'll still check to see whether she's fine." I checked my cell again and then pressed speed dial.

"Hello?" At least she answered.  
"Hey, it's Callie. I was just wondering whether you got my message. I'm at Joe's with Mark"  
"I got your message. Truth be told, I'm just exhausted, I'm heading home right now. But if you want to come over and sleep here you are more than welcome to join me."  
I could practically **hear** Erica smile at me through the phone. I hated to disappoint her again, but I had promised Mark to stay for at least two drinks.  
"I think I'll let you rest. I want to be able to enjoy the company once I decide to stay the night."  
"I thought you could come over tomorrow at six and I'll cook us something nice."  
"Okay, six it is! I can't wait! Do you need me to bring anything?"  
"No, just you and maybe that little black dress? That dress was very enjoyable." I laughed, blushing at the thought of her enjoying my dress.  
"I will! I'll see you tomorrow, sleep well"  
"You too! Bye Callie"  
"Bye Doctor Hahn"

I shut my phone, grinning at Mark.  
"You realise that you make me sick, right?" A small smile danced across his face, taking out the power of his statement.  
"Aww, come one! I know that you are happy for me!"  
"I am, just don't rub it into my wounds, please?" This time I had more difficulty finding out whether he was serious or not.  
"Are you still not getting any from the nurses?"  
"No. But I don't want a nurse if they are boycotting my surgeries. That's them being unprofessional, not me!" Mark was honestly hurt by the nurses' behavior. With what had been going on between me and Erica, I hadn't realised that their boycott had actually hurt his feelings. But maybe there was also something else that he was still hurting from.  
"What about a certain redhead?"  
"What about Addison?" Interesting. He admitted right away that he knew who I was talking about.  
"Well, she told me that you have been talking to her on the phone. About me none the less! So I was wondering how you really feel about her."

"I've loved her like a sister ever since she and Derek started dating, so that's not going to change. But when Derek hurt her without even realising it, my romantic feelings kicked in. Which turned out to kick my ass. But this whole McDreamy drama thing is getting to me. They are dating, then they are not. They love each other, no they don't. They want to spend the rest of their lives together, they have moved on. I swear to god, their drama is making me age rapidly!"  
"Are they back together? I thought Derek was dating a nurse?" It was really hard to keep track of the McDreamy drama, not that I cared much.  
"Derek broke up with the nurse and they are planning their dream house."  
"I'm sorry. I didn't realise that this relationship affects you the way it does. I guess I wasn't the best friend lately"

"It's okay. After all, you were wrapped up in your own drama. But, you could see it that way or the other way. You also wrapped your legs around me, give me amazing sex" Mark smirked at me and flashed me his trademark McSteamy smile. Then he decided that it was the perfect moment to dance right. now., mainly because he wanted to watch my sexy hips sway to the beat of the music and feel my perfect ass grind into him. Especially since this song always reminded him of me. He reminded me of the one time we fucked to this song. And he whispered all that right into my ear.

This is how McSteamy and I danced to Ricky Martin's "Livin La Vida Loca", dozens of eyes watching us on the dancefloor.

* * *

On Saturday, Callie used all afternoon to get ready for her dinner date. She showered, shaved and washed her hair, did her finger nails (short, a tip from Cristina) and her toe nails, put on makeup and her black dress. The dark-haired beauty took extra care to look amazing for her date. Before she left, she packed a little bag with toiletries and her Victoria Secret halter baby doll, just in case she would stay the night.

Uncertain of the protocol in same-sex relationships, Callie decided to buy flowers for Erica. She knew that, in the rare cases that had happened, receiving flowers from a date had always made her special, so she had bought a red orchid. Callie happened to know that Erica loved orchids and buying roses seemed uninspired.

At half past five, Callie made her way over to Erica's house. She was nervous and didn't know what to expect, even though she really looked forward to seeing Erica again. They had only seen glimpses of the other person since their dinner date on Tuesday and Callie had missed the company of the older doctor. She was so used to talking to Erica that when they, for what ever reason, didn't for a few days, she noticed herself get cranky. Even though they hadn't been friends for long, Callie couldn't remember ever being so comfortable with another person. In her past relationships, she had always held parts of herself back, parts that she only showed to true friends. Those true friends were easily counted on one hand and sometimes she wondered why relationships were so hard for her. But with Erica, it was easy. With Erica, everything _seemed_ so easy. Callie had opened up to Erica so much that Erica had slowly infiltrated her heart, making it beat in rhythm only when the blond was around. Callie only hoped that one day, Erica would be able to let her into her heart the same way. She knew that Erica was still holding back, since they rarely talked about the cardio goddess. There was so much about the older doctor that Callie hadn't found out yet, but their date today was the perfect opportunity to get to know her a little bit better.

Throughout the car ride, Callie couldn't help but smile a few times. With all the feelings and thoughts that were going through her body, she still felt content at the bottom of her heart and this was a feeling she had not felt in a long time.

Erica, in the meanwhile, was redecorating her kitchen table every 5 minutes. She wanted everything to be perfect, to do justice to the perfection that was Callie. She had kept the table setting simple, using a dark red table runner and a silver candle holder as decoration. However, she was uncertain whether it was better to place the candles between her and Callie or next to them. She didn't want any barriers between them in case something would… _happen_. Erica lit the candles and turned down the light, satisfied with her work. The cardio goddess checked on the food again for the tenth time and then let out a relieved sigh when the doorbell rang.

"Hi" Callie smiled sweetly at Erica, slightly intimidated by the situation.  
"Hi" Even though Erica tried to seem confident, she was just as intimidated. She wanted to kiss Callie right away, but wasn't sure whether this behaviour would be appropriate or aggressive.  
Callie entered, handing Erica the flowers.  
"Wow, thanks. These are beautiful. I told you that you didn't need to bring anything." Erica leaned forward, kissing Callie lightly. They pulled apart, looking into each others eyes and then kissed again, this time harder. Tongues traced lips and hands started roaming, until Erica pulled away, panting.

"Come on in. Make yourself comfortable." Callie pulled off the light leather jacket she was wearing, slipped out of her heals and put her purse on the table next to the door, then followed Erica into the kitchen.

She stopped at the door, taking in the ambience. Erica stood next to the dark wooden table, the flowers at the one end, the candles at the other end of the table. The soft light illuminated her blond hair and milky skin, making her look softer than ever. Callie drank in the sight, memorizing each detail as if she was taking a mental photo. She drew in a deep breath, swallowing the lump in her throat and stepped forward, into Erica's outstretched arms. The couple hugged, then kissed again.

"Thanks for the invitation. This looks amazing, you make me feel so special" Callie could barely hold back the tears that were threatening to spill. It had been a long time since she had felt special and most of her dates didn't make an effort because they were only interested in her body, not in her mind.  
"You are special. Even more so to me." Erica hugged Callie again, holding the younger woman close to her body. She breathed in Callie's smell, burying her face in Callie's hair. Callie made her feel alive, as if she had just woken up from a coma that she hadn't known she was in.

"Let's eat, okay? I only made a light dinner, I hope that's fine with you."  
"Absolutely! Do you want me to help?"  
"No, sit down. I'm taking care of everything." _And especially of you._ Erica didn't finish the sentence, but she thought it. While Callie sat at the table and admired how much Erica had transformed the simple room into a romantic setting by draping the walls with black and dark red tissues, Erica brought out the first course, honeydew melon with prosciutto and Ciabata bread.

"That looks delicious." Callie smiled, then took a bite of the ham. "Wow. Mhm. That is good!" Erica's face lit up with a smile that radiated in her eyes. _Mission: accomplished_!  
"Glad you like it. I bought it at a small Italian store in town, the prosciutto was made in the south of Italy. I just love authentic food."  
"You speak Italian?" Callie wondered. Erica had pronounced prosciutto the Italian way, stunning Callie.  
"A bit. My mum taught me a few words, mainly the Italian names of food."  
"Is your mom Italian?"  
"No, she wasn't. She was half Austrian half German, but she learned Italian in School in Austria. She only came to the states when she was 19 years old."  
"What about your father? Is he from Europe as well?"  
"Sort of. He was born here, but his parents were from Europe. This ancestors were mainly German, but he was really a mix of different nationalities." Was. Callie noticed that Erica had said was referring to her parents, but she decided to ask about that later.

"So you are mainly German?" Callie inquired.  
Erica didn't answer immediately, pausing to think about what to say. How to explain. The blond doctor hated talking about her past and her heritage. Most people didn't really think that her story was so different, so unusual, but she wasn't proud of her biological parents. Her heritage seemed like a weakness to her.

"Well, I'm half German." Erica sighed, not saying more. After a short pause, Callie decided to ask what that meant. She wanted to know the older doctor, wanted to know all there was to know. Even if it meant that she would have to pry.

"What about the other half? You said that both of your parents are German to some extent." Erica sighed again, allowing herself some time to answer. _So here we go_.

"My adoptive parents are mostly German. My biological mother was German as well, interestingly enough. I don't know about my father, I don't know who he was. _**She**_ didn't know who my father was." Callie raised her brows, studying Erica's features. The blond seemed tense, unwilling to talk about this topic.  
"I didn't know that you were adopted. How old were you?"  
"I was just a baby. I met my biological mother when I was nineteen." The way Erica said "biological _mother_" sparked interest in Callie. Erica's voice sounded hollow and emotionless, as if she didn't talk about the person who gave birth to her but about some stranger with whom she shared an unfortunate connection.  
"How did you find her?" Callie inquired, not sure whether it was a good idea to press the issue, but being interested non the less.  
"The adoption agency had her contact information. It was a semi-open adoption, so when I decided that I wanted to meet her, the adoption agency contacted her. I don't see her as my mother, though."  
Erica didn't say anymore, so they ate in silence. When they were both finished with the appetizer, Erica put their empty plates away and brought out the main course.

"I wanted to make something special for you, something you might not have tasted before." Erica set the plate down before Callie, who looked at the meal with interest.  
"I was hoping to try out some new tastes today" Callie replied, and then realised the double entendre. She couldn't stop the grin from sneaking across her face and blushed, turning her head down while still looking at Erica. The older doctor chuckled, then smirked at Callie and replied "I aim to please". Her voice was hoarse from arousal, lower than usual. They just stared at each other for a few moments, until Erica broke the eye contact and poured them each some white wine.  
Callie looked at her plate again, still not knowing what she was going to eat.  
"So, what is this? It smells great, a bit like cinnamon."  
"There is some cinnamon on top, it's called 'Topfennockerl'. It's an Austrian speciality, they mainly eat it as desert, but I figured you wouldn't mind.. Just try it and tell me what you think!" Erica looked at Callie expectantly, so the younger doctor decided to taste the dish. She took a small bite, chewing it and enjoying the flavors in her mouth. Callie swallowed, then acted as if she had to consider the taster for a moment. Erica furrowed her brows, thinking that maybe they didn't come out as well as they should have. She tasted the Nockerl herself, finding that they were perfect and when she looked up at Callie again, the dark-haired beauty flashed her a smile.

"Don't worry Erica, it tastes great! I've really never tasted anything similar, very interesting! Who taught you how to cook that well?" Erica sighed in relieve, then proceeded to answer the question.  
"My mother did. She was a busy woman, but on the weekends, she made me help in the kitchen, so I learned quite a number of dishes."  
"So your mum worked?" Callie inquired.  
"Yes, she was a nurse. She always dreamed of being a doctor, but her parents couldn't afford to send her to university, so she became a nurse. My father was a doctor, though. A general practitioner."  
"So they inspired you to become a doctor?"  
"Yes, they did. I loved to hear them talk about medicine, to see the lives they changed. What about your parents? Where are they from?" Erica tried to steer the conversation back to Callie, she preferred talking about her love interest. Talking about herself made her self-conscious. The cardio goddess loved to brag about her work, but in her personal life, she was not the average self-obsessed cardiothoracic surgeon.

"My mum is half Greek, half Mexican and my dad is half Mexican, half American. But really, my grandfather is like a melting pot. We have all kinds of nationalities in our heritage, I guess like most Americans."  
"That is interesting, half Greek, half Mexican. I bet your mother is just as gorgeous as you are." Callie blushed at Erica's statement, completely speechless.  
"What do your parents do for a living?" This was the hard part for Callie. She hadn't told Erica about the money yet, as always hiding the fact that she was an heiress.  
"My dad works in real estate and my mum owns a jeweller." Trying to change the topic, Callie took a sip of the white wine, enjoying the taste. "This wine tastes amazing! What sort of grapes is it made of?"  
"It's an Austrian Muskateller. They make amazing wine in Europe, sadly you can hardly buy it here. I brought some bottles with me the last time I vacationed in Austria, for special occasions, you know?"  
"Do you go there often, to Europe?"  
"I try. I love travelling and visiting foreign countries, but I try to go back to Europe every other year. My mother still has a few relatives there that I visit."  
"Where do your parents live?"  
"They died a few years ago." Erica said softly, not looking at Callie. The older woman missed them, even though their relationship had not always been easy.  
"I'm sorry." Erica looked up, seeing the compassion in Callie's eyes. She shrugged, adding "They had a long and fulfilling live. My father was eighty-three and my mother was nearly seventy-six. She died a year after my father had died, she just couldn't live without him." Callie didn't know what to say. She felt Erica's pain, but was unable to relieve it in any way.  
They finished their meal and when Erica got up to put their plates away, she smiled down at her date and suggested that they moved to the living room to eat desert.

"I'll put the dishes away and prepare desert, so why don't you make yourself comfortable in the living room?" Callie smiled, got up and kissed Erica lightly. "I'm just going to get something I forgot from the car, then I'll be there, waiting for you." The dark-haired woman kiss the blond again, trying to lighten the mood with her feather-light kisses.

Callie quickly got her bag from the car, placing it between the table and the door so that Erica wouldn't immediately see it. The younger woman was determined to stay the night, offering Erica comfort after she had opened up to her so much. Callie had not expected to find these things out, yet she was very relieved that they had talked about Erica for a change. During their past rendezvous, the couple had almost always talked about Callie, even when Callie had tried to steer the conversation away from herself. She was still conflicted whether this fact was because Erica cared so much about her or whether she just didn't want to talk about herself.

Callie flopped down on the sofa, wondering what was taking the cardio goddess so long. Finally, Erica brought in bowls with strawberries, banana slices and pieces of pineapples, then left again to get the bowl of melted dark chocolate and dessert forks.

"How about we sit on the floor, less dangerous in case we blot." Erica took two pillows from the sofa, letting Callie lean against the sofa and allowing herself to lean against the armchair.  
"Please, help yourself" Callie licked her lips, she just loved melted chocolate. If the orthopaedic surgeon had been looking at Erica, she would have noticed Erica swallow hard, then involuntarily licking her own lips.

Callie took one strawberries with her fingers, deciding to put on a show for her date. She dipped the strawberry into chocolate, then took an excruciatingly slow bite, closing her eyes as she devoured the fruit. When she opened her eyes, Erica was staring at her with an open mouth, her eyes full of desire. Callie popped the rest of the strawberry into her mouth, smiled at Erica and said teasingly "Did you know that strawberries and chocolate are aphrodisiacs?"  
Erica swallowed hard, leaning in to be closer to the younger woman "Honey, the way you just ate that even_** I**_ can feel the effect" They moved closer, looking deep into each others eyes and finally met in a kiss. Fingers tangling in hair, hands pulling each other closer, tongues duelling.

After kissing deeply for a few minutes, both pulled away, breathing heavy.  
"Why don't you try some too, maybe the fruits have the same effect on you as on me?" Callie suggested, taking a strawberry and repeating the procedure. She fed the fruit to Erica, but missed her mouth on purpose, smearing chocolate all over Erica's lips. "Oh, sorry. Let me get that" Callie turned around, reaching for a napkin which allowed Erica time to swallow the strawberry. When the dark-haired beauty faced the blond woman again, she didn't use the napkin but her tongue to remove the smudged chocolate. Erica pulled Callie in for another heated kiss, feeling the passion rise between them.

Callie pulled away, eliciting a moan of protest from Erica. She motioned Erica to stretch out her legs and then kneeled down over the older woman, straddling her. They kissed again, their bodies melting into each other and slowly, but surly, Erica felt Callie rock her hips. Erica let her hands fall from Callie's face to her hips, gripping them tightly and increasing their motion. They stopped kissing for a second, looking deeply into each others eyes to confirm that they were, in fact, going to go _**there**_. To the point where there was no turning back.

* * *

A/N: I know that I'm mean. I'm so anxious about the next chapter, I'm really worried and nervous!! You could make me feel better by commenting! Seriously! ;-)

ff doesn't let me link anything here, sadly, I would have showed you Callie's babydoll and the Topfennockerl, so if you are interested, just tell me and I'll send you the link in a message!


	10. Chapter Ten This Moment

**Title****:** Doctors don't make promises, do they?  
**Author**: Nelfy  
**Characters:** Callie Torres, Erica Hahn, Callica ship, slight mentions of Mark, Christina and Addison  
**Summary:** This fanfic shows what happened during the season 4 finale and goes further to explore the relationship between Callie and Erica.  
**Spoilers:** Starts with the season 4 finale  
**Rating:** M  
**Disclaimer:** Characters belong to ABC and Shonda Rhimes

**Author's note:** If you don't like explicit descriptions of sex, then please don't read this chapter! I hadn't planned on writing so detailed, sorry if it grosses any of you out. Don't say I didn't warn you!! Thanks for all your reviews, I really appreciate them!! They make me smile at my computer like a goofy idiot, so keep them coming! I will post longer chapters, but less often, hope that's okay with you. So, here we go again, enjoy!!

* * *

**Chapter Ten – This Moment**

What happened last time:

_Callie pulled away, eliciting a moan of protest from Erica. She motioned Erica to stretch out her legs and then kneeled down over the older woman, straddling her. They kissed again, their bodies melting into each other and slowly, but surly, Erica felt Callie rock her hips. Erica let her hands fall from Callie's face to her hips, gripping them tightly and increasing their motion. They stopped kissing for a second, looking deeply into each others eyes to confirm that they were, in fact, going to go __**there**__. To the point where there was no turning back._

They kissed again, while Erica started to move her hands up and down Callie's legs, inching the dress up her legs and thighs until Erica was stroking the younger woman's naked skin. Callie moaned, badly in the need to **feel** Erica as well, not just through her cloths, but really **feel her**. Callie pulled away, allowing them to catch their breath. They stare at each other for a few moments, lust and passion nearly tangible in the air between them.

"Let's move this to your bedroom, okay?" Erica could only nod, her speech center not working properly. They sighed, not wanting to break away from each other. Callie was the first to move, she got up and stretched her hand out to Erica, pulling the older woman up as well.

"I'm just going to use the bathroom for a second, but I'll meet you upstairs." The raven-haired beauty smiled sweetly at the blond doctor and kissed her lightly before leaving the room. Erica was still stunned about what just happened, but made her way up to her bedroom none the less.

As Callie peed, she thought about what she was going to be doing in just a few minutes and felt the nervousness coming back to her gut. She decided to be bold, telling herself that she was not a virgin, hadn't been a virgin in a while, even if she felt this way. _This is different. This isn't going to hurt like the first time and Erica isn't going to be finished way too fast like Enrique._ She slipped the sleeves of her dress down her shoulders all the way down to her stomach, reaching behind herself to open her bra and let her bra fall off her chest. As she slipped back into the dress, she imagined Erica's reaction when the older woman takes off her dress and realises that she's not wearing a bra. Callie smiled to herself and decided to hurry back to what was sure going to be an amazing night.

When Callie entered Erica's bedroom, she saw the cardio goddess sitting on the bed, staring off into the distance, so she kneeled down in front of her date.

The soft "Hey." startled Erica so much that she nearly jumped off the bed. An emotion that Callie couldn't quite make out clouded Erica's beautiful features.

This time, Callie was startled by Erica's sudden statement.

"I don't want to disappoint you"

The older woman didn't look at her lover, but instead stared at her hands, willing them to stop shaking.

"Don't you think that _**I**_ am the one who should be worried about disappointing _**you**_. You've done this before, you know all the tricks." Callie kept her tone light and teasing on purpose, uncertain where Erica was coming from. Dr. Hahn was confident and self-assured and if she even knew self-doubt, she didn't show it. Ever.  
"I act self-confident, but I'm not. I'm sorry. You deserve only the best."  
Callie furrowed her brows and pulled the blond doctor's cheek up with her finger, making Erica look into her eyes.  
"What makes you think that that's not what you are? We don't have to do anything if we aren't ready, we can just snuggle a bit and sleep." Erica sighed, her inner turmoil still evident on her face. "Just give me a minute, please." She stood up and took Callie's hand, lying down on the bed and pulling Callie with her. Erica pulled Callie into a tight embrace, holding the younger woman and drawing big circles on Callie's back, more to soothe herself than to soothe her date. Callie sighed, enjoying the nearness and snuggled in a bit closer.

"Um, Callie? … Um, are you wearing a bra?" Erica asked, trying to sound casual as if she had asked about the weather.  
"No, I'm not." Callie grinned to herself, not looking up. Maybe taking off her bra had been a better idea than she had initially thought.  
"Are you …" Erica cleared her throat "Are you still interested … in, you know … doing what we were going to do?" Erica asked, blushing even though Callie didn't even look at her. Callie didn't react immediately, she secretly enjoyed the older woman's discomfort. It made her feel at ease, knowing that she wasn't the only one who was nervous.

When she finally looked at Erica, the answer was written clearly all over her face and eyes. Somehow, her chocolate brown eyes looked even darker, clouded with arousal. She slowly moved up Erica's body, not breaking any of the body contact, until her lips reached Erica's and they started kissing. Callie was now nearly lying on top of Erica, but the blond woman didn't complain. Erica held Callie's face in her hands, her thumbs tracing over the younger woman's cheeks while her tongue traced her lips. Callie threw her right leg over Erica and sat up, her crotch landing exactly on Erica's.

"God, you are so beautiful" The dark-haired beauty traced the blonde's face, completely in awe at how vulnerable and yet strong Erica looked. Erica pulled her in for another kiss and Callie started to move her hips, making them both gasp at the contact and friction. Heat overtook Callie's body and so she did the only logical thing – she reached down to the hem of her dress and pulled it over her head, throwing it at the floor. Erica gasped again, taking in Callie's beauty. The lovers stared at each other for a few moments, overwhelmed with feelings. Then, in one swift move, the cardio goddess used all of her strength to flip them over, now straddling the orthopaedic surgeon. Callie shrieked, surprised by Erica's sudden move.

"You are gorgeous." Erica let her fingers dance over Callie's shoulders, tracing her collarbone and moving down, to the sides of Callie's breast. She leaned forward, taking one nipple in her mouth and sucked lightly, causing Callie to yelp and then moan. She moved her mouth to the other nipple, repeating the action. Callie moaned again, then pulled Erica's head up and pulled her in for another deep kiss.

"Loose the cloths!" Callie commanded, taking control. Erica looked up in surprise, but complied anyway. Erica unbuttoned her blouse and as soon as she was finished, Callie attacked her naked skin, kissing along the lines of her cleavage and cupping her breasts. Callie reached around and opened Erica's bra, pushed her blouse and bra straps from Erica's shoulders and let the cloth fall down. Leaning back, Callie took in the view in front of her. She was a doctor, so she had seen her fair share of breast and since she had a pair of her own, breast normally didn't interest her at all. But this was different. The dark-haired beauty finally understood why men were so obsessed with boobs. Still in awe, she reached forward slowly, sliding her fingers over Erica's skin and circled her areolas and her nipples.

"Wow. I … I don't … Wow. Can I taste them?"  
Callie looked up and saw Erica's pained expression. She furrowed her brows, fearing that she had just ruined the mood by acting like the virgin that she felt she was.  
"You are such a tease, you're going to kill me. Please, help yourself" Erica answered, pointing at her own chest. The older woman could not remember ever being more aroused, being so aroused that it actually _hurt_.

Callie leaned forward and circled the areolas and nipples again, this time with her tongue. To her, Erica's breast tasted like skin, only sweeter and somehow softer than the men Callie had been with. Now it was Erica's turn to groan, she needed release and she needed it now. Taking over again, Erica let her hands fall into Callie's lap, cupping her mound, and started to rock her hips against her own hand, pleasuring both of them at the same time. They groaned, their need for orgasm evident.

"Still … too much … clothing." Callie stammered, not wanting Erica to stop what she was doing, yet at the same time wanting to feel Erica _inside_ of her. The older woman stopped and got up, simply pulling down her pants and panties, then proceeded to take off Callie's panties as well. She got back onto the bed, kneeling over Callie and simply pushed her fingers through Callie's curly hair, feeling the wetness. Wanting to share the pleasure, Callie started tracing Erica's pussy as well, trying to mimic the other woman's movements. When Erica pushed two fingers inside of Callie, the younger doctor groaned, completely losing her control. She was unable to concentrate, all she could think of was friction and motion, so she tried to create that with her fingers while not giving in to Erica's ministrations. While Erica was also clearly aroused, she still could somewhat control her movements and pumped her fingers in and out, in and out, using her thumb to brush over Callie's clit occasionally. When she felt the younger woman getting closer to climax, she stroked Callie's clit a few times, feeling her inner walls contract around her fingers. This set off her own climax, and the two woman moaned and groaned while their orgasms racked through their bodies.

"Oh god. Oh god. Oh god." Callie couldn't think, she could hardly breath.

"You're repeating yourself again" Erica said, then kissed her lover hard.

"I'm blaming you, you have that effect on me." The dark-haired beauty took possession over the blonde's lips, sucking them into her mouth and tracing them with her tongue, still not satisfied.

"I take it you are ready for another round?" Erica asked, trying to joke but breathing heavy just thinking about giving the gorgeous Latina another orgasm.

"There is a second round? Bring it, Dr. Hahn." Callie was more confident now that she had made her love experience the ultimate sexual high and couldn't wait to explore her lover's body, as that the nearly uncomfortable first arousal had passed. Erica eye's glinted with passion at hearing Callie call her 'Dr. Hahn', the use of her title turning her on immensely.

Erica pushed Callie onto her back, laying her down on the bed and started kissing down her body. She attacked her neck first, sucking on the pulse point and feeling it flutter underneath her tongue. She moved on to nipples, which were still standing out in attention, and after giving both nipples her attention, she let her tongue trace the valley between Callie's breasts. Erica stuck her tongue into Callie's navel, making the younger doctor laugh out in surprise. When she started moving lower, Callie held her breath, but Erica didn't go for the center that smelled so intoxicating straight away. Instead, she kissed a trail down Callie's left leg, lovingly kissing each toe and moving over to the other foot, repeating her path in a reversed order. When Erica reached the junction of Callie's legs, she motioned for the younger woman to spread her legs and settled between them. Her love was watching her intently, breathing hitched, waiting for her next move. Erica breathed in deeply, revelling in the memory of how good woman smelled. The older woman looked into the younger one's eyes, seeking permission to continue and when she received it immediately, she stuck her tongue out and opened Callie's folds. She traced Callie's lips and started teasing the nub which was already hard and standing out. Callie moaned, completely lost in the flashes of heat and pleasure that went through her whole body. Erica alternated between sticking her tongue into Callie's hole and licking her clit with her flat tongue until Callie was writhing in pleasure. The blonde sucked Callie's clit into her mouth, finally sending her over the edge. Callie moaned loudly, then went completely rigid, eyes closed tightly.

Erica slid her body up until she lay face to face with Callie whose eyes were still shut. "You okay?" Erica asked concerned. Maybe going down on her lover had been to early, too much for the 'straight' girl. "Never been better. Just give me a moment" Callie pressed out, grinning but still not opening her eyes. Erica studied the younger woman's features, still amazed that a woman as beautiful as Callie would be interested in her in any way, let alone be attracted to her physically.

Slowly, Callie recovered from her orgasm and opened her eyes, seeing piercing blue eyes looking at her. Callie traced her fingers over Erica's face and then pulled them through blond, silky hair. She moved forward, burying her face in the blond curls and breathing in deeply. "Your hair smells so good. So _**you**_." They kissed, and as Callie started moving down Erica's body, the blonde took the Latina's face into her hands and asked "Are you sure?". Feeling her heart skip a beat at how considerate Erica was, Callie nodded. "I want to make you feel the way you made me feel" They shared an intense moment of eyes looking straight into the other person's soul and then Callie started kissing her way down Erica's body just as the cardio goddess had shown her. Callie took her time, enjoying discovering Erica's body and still engrossed in the breast that looked so perfect to her. When she moved over Erica's stomach, she discovered a small scar that looked like from an appendectomy, but she didn't comment or ask, just noted it for future reference. As Callie was face to face with Erica's blond curls and her vagina, she didn't go lower, but took a moment to just look. Out of curiosity, Callie had looked at her own vagina with a mirror when she was a teen, but this was different. The blond curls were trimmed, not too long and allowed her to really see Erica's outer and inner lips. Callie stuck her tongue out, slowly licking along Erica's lips up to her clit. Callie had never been a fan of oral sex, but she decided that she could _really_ enjoy that. Men expected her to give perfect blow jobs and let them fuck her face, while most of them had no idea what she enjoyed or how to touch her. But she knew what to do, as if on instinct, and so she dove right in, making Erica scream her name in pleasure within minutes.

* * *

The couple lay snuggling on the bed, content and at rest. Callie looked at Erica, searching eye contact and said "Thank you!". Erica smiled "It was my pleasure".  
"Not just for the amazing sex" - both chuckled - "but also for talking to me. Opening up to me." Erica looked down, Callie could see right through all her mind games and knew that she was still holding back, even though she had been more open tonight than ever before.

"You ready to go to sleep?" The older woman asked, not commenting on the dark-haired beauty's previous statement.  
"Yeah." They kissed and got up, Erica walking into the bathroom. "I have a toothbrush for you and you can borrow one of my shirts if you want to."  
"Thanks, but I don't need anything." Callie went downstairs to retrieve her bag, leaving Erica wondering what Callie meant.

Callie returned and started brushing her teeth with her own brush, still naked. Erica chuckled, watching her lover for a moment, and started to get ready for bed as well.

"So you planned all this?"  
"No, I didn't, but I wanted to be ready for all eventualities." Callie said, leaving the bathroom.

When Erica walked back into the bedroom, Callie was leaning over the bed, trying to untangle Erica's bra from the sheets. While she was now wearing her baby doll nightgown, she was still not wearing any panties and that allowed Erica to see Callie's hot behind. Erica couldn't resist the temptation and ran her hands over the two globes, then sneaked one hand between Callie's legs and started tracing her outer lips.

"Oh god. Don't." Erica stopped dead in her tracks, waiting.  
"Don't stop." Callie moaned again, leaning back onto Erica's fingers slightly. The blonde started pushing two fingers inside Callie's wet folds and reached around with her other hand to find Callie's hard nub.  
"Oh God." Callie came fast and hard, falling onto the bed, completely spent. "Wow." Erica smiled, proud of what she was able to do to Callie.  
"You forgot to put on panties" The cardio goddess stated innocently.

* * *

A/N: See, no cliffhanger this time, cause I don't want to be cruel. Please tell me whether you liked this chapter, whether I was too direct/too porn-y or whether you liked that. Did I gross someone out, I really hope I didn't! God, I'm blushing posting this, but since you've stuck with me through 9 sexless chapters I ought to give you at least one naughty chapter. I'm assuming that you like reading this stuff as much as I do, which is my main motivation for writing. And your comments, second main motivator :D


	11. Chapter Eleven The Prison

**Title****:** Doctors don't make promises, do they?  
**Author**: Nelfy  
**Characters:** Callie Torres, Erica Hahn, Callica ship, slight mentions of Mark, Christina and Addison  
**Summary:** This fanfic shows what happened during the season 4 finale and goes further to explore the relationship between Callie and Erica.  
**Spoilers:** Starts with the season 4 finale  
**Rating:** M  
**Disclaimer:** Characters belong to ABC and Shonda Rhimes

**Author's note:** I am really sorry I made you wait for the update, the weekend went past like that snaps finger. Again, thanks for your reviews, they keep me writing and happy!! As you might notice, I'm having difficulties with the tenses. I write everything in the past, but when I uses someone's POV, then I would write the thoughts in the present as well. Do you mind if I switch between past and present tense? Any advice how to handle that?

* * *

**Chapter Eleven – The Prison**

On Monday, Erica entered the scrub room, which was already occupied by two nurses, with an exited Cristina in tow.

"I'm telling you, she tamed him. Who would have thought that the woman who got cheated on in the first months of her marriage would tame the manwhore? McSteamy has stopped flirting with us, he hasn't picked up any woman at Joe's in **ages** and they spend all their lunch breaks together. Did you see them dancing at Joe's last Friday? They were practically _**doing each other**_ with their cloths on! I think they've just stopped having sex at the hospital because things are getting serious." Cristina noticed how Erica's whole body started to tense next to her, and when the older doctor turned to the two nurses, Cristina _nearly_ ducked for cover.

"I am aware of the fact that this hospital is one giant soap opera, but I will not accept any rumor spreading in my OR. So if you can not focus your energy on my patient, whose **life** I am going to save today, then you are of no use to me. So go and tell Nurse Jones to scrub in and get out of my sight."

The young nurse looked shocked and stunned, but had enough will to live to scurry from the room.

"I am sorry, Dr. Hahn. I should have told her to stop talking."  
"Will you concentrate on my patient, nurse Smith?"  
"Yes, I will."  
"Good. Go and prepare the instruments"  
"Thank you, Dr. Hahn."

Nurse Smith left the scrub room and Cristina noticed in panic that she was alone with Dr. Hahn. Cristina had been scolded by the older doctor often enough to not want to experience that ever again.

"If you tell Callie about any of this, I will treat all the other first-year residents the way I've treated you in the past days. Which means that you won't see the inside of an OR in a while, let alone scrub in with me. Understood?" Cristina could tell that Erica was boiling inside, but she also sounded hurt. _She doesn't think that that's true, does she?_

"You know that that's not true, right? Callie and Sloan are not dating."  
"And why would I care?"  
"Well, you would care because" the young doctor stopped, realizing that she wasn't supposed to know about Erica and Callie's relationship and their dates. "You don't. Right. You don't care."

"That's right, I don't care. I think we both know that Callie has had to deal with enough rumors and nurses gossiping about her, so if you are really her friend, then you know better than to tell her about that."  
"I won't, I promise."  
"Good. If you tell ANYONE about our conversation, I will perform a heart transplant on you - while you are awake. You got it?"  
"Yes, Ma'am." Erica turned and entered the OR, leaving a stunned Cristina behind. The young doctor swallowed hard, then let out a long breath_. Callie really makes Dr. Hahn human. Callie is her person!_

* * *

"Hey Beautiful." Mark sat down next to Callie, who was once again eating lunch alone.  
"What do you want?" Callie asked, knowing fully well that Mark used his charm to get whatever it was that he needed.  
"What, I can't compliment my beautiful friend without being accused of having any ulterior motives?" Callie just looked at Mark, eyebrows raised, waiting for him to say what he really was up to.  
"Okay, alright. I need you to do a consult on one of my patients and convince her of having a surgery she refuses to have."  
"Why does she refuse it? Is it medically necessary?"  
"Well, not exactly. But it would really improve her quality of life, something she doesn't believe in any more."  
"Okay. I have a surgery in an hour but it's only a fracture so I should be done by four. I'll page you?"  
"Great! Thanks Callie."  
"Just doing my job." Callie smiled at her friend, thankful that this relationships had not been messed up by sex.

The next day, Callie skipped lunch entirely, since Erica had once again canceled their date because of a consult. She went up to the psych ward on the third floor to one of the most quiet on-call rooms, in which, even though it was popular among the doctors, Callie was still able to get the most sleep. As she walked down the hallway, lost in thought and already half asleep, Callie bumped into a blond woman exiting one of the offices.

"Oh, sorry. Hey, Erica!" Callie smiled, happy that she had bumped into the one person she actually wanted to see right now.  
"Oh, Callie. I was just getting a consult, I have to go, surgery." Erica shot out, already turning to leave.  
"Wait. Do you want to come to dinner tonight?" Callie asked, hoping that she would at least get to see her friend (_girlfriend?_) in the evening.  
"Yes, sure. I'll see you then, bye!" Barely pausing to answer Callie, Erica vanished around the next corner, a blush creeping across her face. She hurried to get to the staircase, then leaned against the door to catch her breath. _Great! This is exactly what I need, Callie finding out that I'm a patient of Dr. Wyatt's._

Meanwhile, Callie fell into an empty bed in a luckily empty on-call room, thinking '_That was weird_' before she fell asleep, completely exhausted.

_

* * *

_

(Erica's POV)

At six, it was finally time to go home. Or Callie's place.

I fished out my phone, pressing speed dial and waiting for Callie to pick up.

"Hey."  
"Hey you too." I grinned, just hearing her voice made me feel better, even though I had probably humiliated myself by acting weird when we met today in the hallway. Callie wouldn't know why I was in Dr. Wyatt's office, I might as well have been getting a consult. I would have been better off by acting like a normal person instead of someone who actually needed therapy. Well, too late now.  
"So, are you still coming for dinner?"  
"Yes, if I'm still invited. Are you at home already?"  
"Why wouldn't you be? No, I'm changing right now, in the resident's lounge." My heart skipped a beat, imaging Callie changing her clothes, what underwear she was wearing. Stop that, Erica, focus!  
"You still there?"  
"Yes, sorry. I just need to check on a patient real quick and then shower and change as well, so why don't we meet at your place? Or do you want to go out, I would invite you to that little Thai place I know." I grinned at the thought of our first date and the wonderful food we had shared.  
"Actually, I was thinking we could order some takeout and crash the couch, since you are no longer banned from the apartment. Is that okay with you?"  
"Sounds great. So, I'll meet you there in half an hour?"  
"Can you give me a ride? I'm not sure whether Cristina is still at the hospital and since you are going to my place anyways, I thought we could ride together?" Not good. Not good at all. What would people think if they saw us leaving together? Maybe no one will notice. Ha, who am I kidding, this is Seattle Grace, someone always notices. Well, I can't really say no, can I? **Damn**.  
"Yes, sure. Let's meet in the lobby, then."  
"Great, I can't wait. Bye!"  
"Bye" Shutting my phone, I tried not to think about what people would say. Some form of gossip or rumor was going to get formed, some nurse always came up with a nice story during the long hours of night shift.

I changed out of my scrubs and entered the bathroom, stepping under the shower. Turning the faucet far to the left, I let the hot water cascade over my back and wash away the tension of three surgeries. Three surgeries was not that much, considering that I had let Yang do most of the work. How Callie got me to let Yang scrub in was still a mystery to me, but when those big brown eyes look at me I feel like I could promise her the world and mean it. As cheesy as that sounds, Callie makes me want to be a better person and if that means letting Yang scrub in than so be it. I was actually surprised at first, at how well Yang knew what to do, knew how to make the incision and how to hold the instruments. Figures, since she had Burke as her teacher. I just hadn't thought that he had actually let her operate that much, I had assumed that she was his little kitten he used for his pleasure. Guess I was wrong.

When my head finally started to heat up, I turned the water off and hurried to change into my street clothes. I quickly checked on my critical patient, whose condition was still stable and then meet Callie in the lobby. Even in jeans and a shirt, Callie looked stunning and radiant. I almost told her, but stopped myself before I humiliated me even more and just led her out of the hospital to my car.

Callie's idea of takeout was food that made me think of heart attacks, blood clots and double bypass surgeries. I tried to argue with her for five full minutes but gave up when she accused me of eating just as unhealthily as she did.

"I do eat sugar and fat, but at least I eat high-quality unhealthy food. The things you want to order don't even taste good!"  
"Hey, have you ever tried their peach cobbler? So good! Delicious, even!" Callie closed her eyes and moaned, putting on a show for me. I squinted at her, trying to look stern.  
"You are fighting dirty. Let's just order from both restaurants, we are doctors after all, we should be able to afford that!"  
Callie smiled triumphantly, kissed me long and with lots of tongue and proceeded to order way too much food for two people.

"I hope those places deliver fast, I am really hungry by now."  
"Well, that's because you skip lunch. That's not good for your body." _Callie is cute when she is caring and protective, _but I couldn't let her be._ I am strong, I am independent and I can take care of myself well enough. I have to, if I am going to take care of her as well._

"Sometimes, the patient's welfare is more important than mine. Plus, I had a sandwich in the afternoon, so don't worry. I just want the food to arrive here fast." Callie didn't ask about lunch any more, for which I was grateful, instead she offered me a bet.

"I bet five dollars on the unhealthy food" Never one to resist a bet, I replied "Five dollars and whoever wins gets to decided where our next date will be."  
"Deal" Callie stretched out her hand and I shook it and pulled her in for a kiss to seal the deal. We kissed for a few minutes, soft lingering kisses that don't have to lead anywhere but make me feel great. _I only missed the sex when I was single, which was pretty much all the time. Now, I wondered how I didn't miss kissing, because when Callie kissed me, my world turned upside down._

When the door bell rang, we both looked up in surprise. Had we really just spent all this time kissing? I wasn't twenty anymore, an age in which kissing for half an hour seemed appropriate, yet I couldn't exactly complain about that either. I got up to get my purse, but Callie was faster and was already standing by the open door by the time I found my purse. She paid and closed the door, grinning a 100 watt smile at me. I looked at her hands and saw the bags with roosters on them and sighed. I guess that meant that I had lost the bet. I opened my purse, pulling out a five dollar bill and handed it to Callie. However, the smile that was plastered on her face more than made up for the money that I just had lost.

When the door bell rang the second times just a few minutes later, I answered the door, as my hot date was standing in the kitchen, putting the food on plates. Just as I was paying the delivery boy, Yang stepped off the elevator and made her way down the hallway and into the apartment.

"Hey Callie. Dr. Hahn." She nodded at my direction and got herself a beer from the fridge. I shot her a look, very clearly reminding her of our conversation in the scrub room and she ducked her head. Yang knew not to get into my way or do anything other than what I said, so I was able to count on her not spreading any rumors on to Callie.

"Hey Cristina. Do you want to have dinner with us? I ordered way too much anyways, so there's enough for everybody."  
"Hm, I'm not that hungry, but thanks. I think I'll just go to my room." I wasn't exactly excited about spending my evening with Yang when I had already spent most of my day with her breathing down my neck, but Callie wouldn't have it.  
"Come on. I know you're hungry, you always are when you come home from work. We're not going to bite you, I swear."  
Yang looked at me for approval and when Callie saw that and looked at me as well, I could only nod. I wasn't going to fight about Yang with Callie again, so I had to give in. "Okay then, lets move to the sofa, that's more comfortable."

We spent dinner watching the news and talking. Mainly me talking to Callie and Yang talking to Callie with very few words exchanged between me and Yang. When Yang was finished with eating and had put away her plates, she excused herself to her bedroom.

"Did something happen between the two of you?" Callie asked, observing my reaction closely. I immediately knew what she was trying to do and pulled up my defenses. Not letting any emotion on my face show, I replied "No, nothing happened. Unless you count the surgeries that I've been allowing her to perform. Why?" _So completely innocent_, I thought to myself.  
"I saw the looks you were giving her." Callie wouldn't let the topic slip, so I came up with an easy excuse.

"Listen, just because I teach Yang now doesn't mean that we are friends. Or will ever be friends. She's just a resident happening to be interested in cardio surgeries."  
"I'm a resident too and we are friends." I raised my eyebrows at her wording, a sly grin forming on my lips.  
"Friends? Right. You are practically an attending, and she's still nearly an intern. You know that. I did what you asked me to do, I teach her, but you can't ask me to be friends with her. I have friends, I don't mind getting new ones if the chemistry is right, but I am most certainly not going to be friends with her. Now can we please change the topic?" If that didn't make Callie back off, then I wouldn't know what would.  
"I'm sorry. You two just seem so weird and awkward around each other and I like you both, so I want you to get along. But you are right, I can't make you be friends with her." Callie leaned in and kissed me, but with Yang in the next room I only kissed her back for a second, accepting her peace-offering and then pulled away, pointing my head at Yang's room. Callie sighed and rolled her eyes, a smile forming on her lips.

"Do you want to spend the night?" _Really, Callie, really?_ "On your sofa? I think I have to decline _this very attractive offer_." I answered, my voice dripping with sarcasm. Callie pouted and looked disappointed, but I would never spend a night on someone's sofa if there was any way that I could go home. "Besides, what will Yang think?"  
"She's going to find out sooner or later anyways."

"It better be later." Callie looked at me disappointedly, then averted her eyes to hide her emotions. _Damn_. I reached forward, cupping her face in my right hand and brushing my thumb over her cheek.  
"Look. I don't trust Yang to not spread this" I used my other hand to point between Callie and myself "like a wildfire across the hospital. I just don't want people talking about us, that's all." Omitting some parts of the truth is not lying, right? Right! Callie sighed, seemingly content with my explanation.  
"I trust her, I really do. I just want to be able to tell my friends and Cristina happens to be one of my friends. I wish you could trust her too, or at least trust me enough to know who I can trust." _Trust, one more thing on my list of emotions that don't go well with people_. I sighed, unsure of what to say to her, taking my time to form a response in my head.

"Look, we agreed to take it slow. So let's just take it slow and see how things evolve. I have surgery tomorrow morning, so I'm going to head home now. But thanks for dinner, it was very nice. I enjoy just spending time with you."

Callie smiled at me shyly, making me want to take her home with me tonight. "Yeah, me too. I wish we could spend more time together, but with our schedules at the hospital I feel like I hardly see you anymore, at least at the hospital." I had hoped that it would have taken her longer to figure out that I had been avoiding her, but it seemed like I underestimated her. I simply couldn't have a relationship with her at work, not after Tess. I always learn from my mistakes, and if this meant I had to avoid Callie at work to not make the same mistake again then so it be.

When I didn't answer Callie, she leaned into me, kissing me again. We got up and cleaned up the living room table and the kitchen. As we said our goodbyes, the urge to stay became almost too great, but I knew that staying the night was simply not an option. We kissed goodbye and I headed out, back to my big and lonely house, that had never seemed lonely to me before Callie.

_Somehow, every memory is filed either before or after Callie. My very personal BC and AC, I smile to myself. In the past, my thoughts would revolve around medicine all the time. Patients and surgeries were all I thought about. Now, thoughts of Callie and the time we spend together creep into my head constantly, even when I enter the OR I have to push her to the back of my mind. When I think of the patient's I've treated at Seattle Grace so far, they are either BC or AC. Andrew Langdon, or _Cement Boy_ as he is referred to by almost every person in the hospital, is AC, but BK. Before the kiss. _The kiss!_ Denny Duquette is AC. Mr. O'Malley is AC, even though she was very involved in this case. I wonder what would have happened if we had met back then, would we have become friends as well? Would we have fallen for each other? Would she not have gotten married to George? I guess she would have been with George none the less, we probably would not have been more than mere acquaintances. Some things might have been easier if we had become friends back then - we wouldn't have worked together, so I would have allowed myself to be more open with her. But then again, I might have fallen for her while she was getting married to him. We'll never know and I am just glad things worked themselves out the way they did, I ended up with Callie by my side and both Mark and George won't be able to get near her anymore._

* * *

A/N: Yes?/No? I'm working towards something, so this chapter and maybe the next will be used to fill the gaps. Any advice concerning the tenses?


	12. Chapter Twelve Meet Me In The Dark

**Title****:** Doctors don't make promises, do they?  
**Author**: Nelfy  
**Characters:** Callie Torres, Erica Hahn, Callica ship, slight mentions of Mark, Christina and Addison  
**Summary:** This fanfic shows what happened during the season 4 finale and goes further to explore the relationship between Callie and Erica.  
**Spoilers:** Starts with the season 4 finale  
**Rating:** M  
**Disclaimer:** Characters belong to ABC and Shonda Rhimes

**Author's note:** Next update already! Please review and tell me whether you like it, what you like and what you don't like. Thanks!

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Chapter Twelve – Meet Me In The Dark

_(Callie's POV)_

The next day at lunch, Cristina approached me and asked "Can I sit with you?"  
I looked up, surprised to see her and answered: "Yeah, sure. This is not high school, you can sit wherever you want."  
"It sure feels like high school sometimes" We chuckled at the comment, _it does feel like high school a lot._  
"Meredith is in therapy and I just don't want to sit with Bambi and Izzie. Their bickering and fighting is making me want to cut off my own ears" I looked at her in surprise and raised my eyebrows, without speaking out the question that was on my mind.

"They fight a lot. Especially now that he lives with the other Grey. You know, Lexie."  
"I've met her. I didn't know they were living together though." Cristina smiled at me, clearly loving the gossip she was going to spread.  
"This whole Grey-Bambi-Izzie foursome is like a huge reverse 'What goes around comes back around'." Cristina paused and looked at me, testing whether I was interested or not.  
"Okay, so what is that supposed to mean?"  
"You know about the whole Bambi-loving-Meredith,-her-being-completely-clueless-and-their-failed-sex-story, right?" I nodded, I had been the one to pick up the pieces after Meredith had destroyed George, how could I forget that? "Well, it seems that history is repeating itself, only this time, Grey - the OTHER Grey, is into George and he is completely clueless. And on top of it all, Izzie is jealous of her because Lexie lives with George and gets to spend time with him. How anyone can be so stupid to fall for Bambi is beyond me-" "Hey! He can be a great guy!"

"How can you say that after what he did to you? He's not. He wants to please everybody and in the end ends up hurting the people he loves." I sighed, Cristina did have a point. It was pretty hard to forgive George what he had done to me, but in order for me to move on, I had to forgive him.  
"So you are saying that Lexie is into George? We should warn her that as long as Izzie is his friend, she should stay away from him." Cristina looked at me surprised, as if she hadn't even thought of talking to Lexi at all.  
"I was just going to watch the whole thing unfold." I rolled my eyes at her expression - she clearly loved this.  
"I think I might talk to her, just so that she knows what she's getting herself into."  
"And how are you going to explain that? 'I heard the rumor that you like George, but stay away from him?'" Cristina had a point. "Besides, Lexie was already working here when you found out that Bambi had cheated on you."  
"Oh, right. I forgot that the new interns had already been here then. Right. Well, then I can't help her." We nodded at each other, eating in silence for a few moments.  
"Wait, Meredith is in therapy?" I asked, not that surprised considering all the issues Grey had had to deal with in the last two years.  
"Yeah, with Dr. Wyatt, third floor office, you know her? Why Meredith can't just talk to me I don't understand, but if it helps her I'm not going to stop her going there." Maybe that's the doctor Erica had the consult with, I wonder. But why would the therapist not see the patient to do the consult. _Strange._  
"But don't tell her that I told you, she doesn't want Derek to find out."  
"I won't. As long as you keep my little secret yours is safe with me." A little blackmail never hurt, something Cristina herself had taught me.  
"Little secret?" Cristina asked in disbelief. "Little secret my ass. This is huge, I still can't believe that nobody else figured it out yet. Where is she, anyways?" Well, if I knew that. I sighed "She said she had a patient. How is anyone supposed to figure anything out when I hardly see her anymore at the hospital?"  
"She has a patient? Without telling me? Damn, I need to find her and see whether I can scrub in."  
"Wait, Cristina, there was something I wanted to talk to you about. I can't keep on sleeping on your couch, Erica can't even stay over. But, I know that you don't earn that much money yet and I really like living with you, so I thought, if you are interested, we could move to a bigger apartment together."

Cristina thought about my proposal for a minute and then said "Ok. I hate change, but I need to stop pretending that what Burke did to me was fine or that it's healthy that I still live in his apartment. He nearly ruined my career, he is the reason why Hahn hates me." Wow. That was unexpected. Cristina and I never, ever talked about Burke and she also never talked about her feelings. Clearly uncomfortable and surprised by her own admission, Cristina looked at the table and asked "So, how do we do that? Look at ads in the newspaper?"  
"I've already called a realtor, I want this to go as easy and fast as possible. I have an appointment Friday afternoon, are you off then?"  
"Yes, I am. The chief would probably kick me out of the hospital anyways, I've been pushing the 80 hour rule a lot lately."  
"Great. Then that's settled. I asked for a two-bedroom near the hospital, quiet and not too expensive. I'm sure the realtor will find something suitable for us."  
"Thanks for asking me. I couldn't afford living in Burke's apartment on my own." I smiled at Cristina, this was as much of an admission that she liked living with me as I would get. "You are welcome."

* * *

Meanwhile, Erica was working in her office, writing done notes for the research she was doing at the moment. When someone knocked on her door, she prayed that it wasn't Callie, whom she had told a little white lie to avoid having lunch with her.

"Come in." The door opened and Bailey stepped inside.  
"Here you are. Are you hiding? Nobody knew where you were." Miranda inquired.  
"You could have just paged me. What is it?" Erica huffed, uncomfortable with Bailey's question.  
"You wanted to take Monday and Tuesday off, is that correct?"  
"Yes. Is that a problem? Yang can handle my post-op patients and run tests and labs on her own and I can easily postpone the two surgeries that are scheduled for Tuesday."  
Miranda raised her eyebrows at the attending. "You are letting Yang handle your patients? What happened, Callie talked some sense into you?" Miranda was not one to be disrespectful just because she could be, but she was still harboring some resent against Dr. Hahn after the surgeon had kicked her out of her son's surgery.  
"What do you know? Why are you mentioning Dr. Torres?" Erica was suspicious, fearing that some gossip had already formed about her relationship with Callie.  
"I don't know anything, but I have eyes. The sparks that have been flying between the two of you were hard to miss, even as much as you both try to deny it." Erica glared at Miranda, who seemed completely unimpressed by the looks Erica was shooting her. Nobody said anything, until Erica broke the silence by asking "Is there a problem with taking two days off?"  
"No, but since you've never taken days off I just wanted to check and see whether you are fine." Erica nodded. "An old friend is coming to town and she just told me, so I hadn't been able to plan on taking days off earlier."  
"Do you need more days off? With Yang doing simple surgeries on her own, I am sure the Chief would allow that."  
"No, thank you. She's not here long and she will be busy from Wednesday to Friday anyways, so I really only need Monday and Tuesday off.  
"Fine by me." Bailey left Erica to her research and to wondering who else had picked up on the 'sparks'.

* * *

Callie worked through Wednesday night and when she got home Thursday evening completely exhausted, she realized that Erica had left a message on her phone, saying that an old friend from New York was in town and they therefore couldn't meet on Friday or the weekend. Callie was disappointed and puzzled by the message, but too tired to really think about it.

When she got up Friday morning, Cristina was already up and ready to go look at apartments, but their appointment was in the afternoon. They ordered takeout and ate lunch in silence, both lost in thought. Callie was disappointed as she hadn't seen Erica since dinner Tuesday evening and she probably wouldn't see her until Monday. She was also a bit pissed about the short message that Erica had left her, the cardio goddess had been incredibly vague, not stating what friend was visiting. Callie didn't know any of Erica's friends and her mind kept wandering back to their conversation about Tess. Erica had said that they hadn't kept in touch, but this was the only person Callie could think about which would explain why Erica hadn't said who was visiting.

Cristina was thinking about Burke and his apartment. It had taken her long enough to give up her previous apartment and even though she would probably be able to afford the rent on her own, she wanted to move out. Everything still reminded her of Burke and she had finally been able to deal with her pain, after seeing that he had obviously moved on. Besides, she liked living with Callie, who understood that they simply didn't talk about certain topics and who didn't push her to be any different than she was.

"You know-" Cristina said, startling Callie "-you might have saved me from moving in with Izzie." Callie furrowed her brows, asking "Why?"  
"Well, Meredith and McDreamy are building their McDreamhouse, which means that Meredith will move out of her house and then it'll be just Izzie and Alex. I'm sure Izzie will try and make me move in with her, but now that we are moving into a larger apartment I can use you as an excuse. I'll just tell her that she broke you so bad that I fear for you if you live alone." Callie grimaced "I don't want Izzie to think that she broke me. I'm stronger than that." Cristina grinned "Well, I know that and you know that, but she doesn't. Besides, she needs to feel guilty, otherwise she won't leave me alone. Now that she can't pester George that much anymore." Callie realized in that moment that she had really moved on. Erica had helped her move on, she could listen to Cristina mock them without feeling hurt or feeling better about them feeling bad.

"You know, Cristina, you don't have to put them down for my sake. I'm over George, I have finally moved on." The young doctor studied her friend for a moment. "Ok. But I'll still make fun of them, they deserve it and I enjoy it." Cristina smirked at Callie, making the ortho doctor laugh out loud.

* * *

"Please tell me you love it, please!" The two friends had looked at three apartments already and not one had appealed to them both. Cristina was getting impatient and she thought that the fourth apartment might be right for them.  
"I really like it. The bedrooms are not that big, but it has two bathrooms. Besides, we spend so much time at the hospital, we wouldn't use big bedrooms often enough."  
"The living room is large and the kitchen is nice too, not that that matters."  
"I cook, occasionally." Callie stated, then laughed at her own lie. Mixing cereals and milk was as close as the two roommates got to cooking, but Callie had Erica in mind when she inspected the stove and fridge.  
"The rent isn't that much more expensive either. I say yes and you better say yes too, or I might hurt you." Cristina murmured at a smiling Callie.

"Yes. I like this apartment, it is pretty close to the hospital."

The older doctor turned to the realtor. "When can we move in?"  
"You take it? Great! You can move in next month, would you like me to set up the contract right away? We could go back to my office and deal with the paperwork today, then you wouldn't need another appointment."  
"Okay, great!" The friends looked at each other and smiled, relieved that they had finally mastered to find an apartment they both liked.

After signing all the necessary papers and a check over the first three rent installments, the two doctors went back to their old apartment and decided that they had to celebrate with alcohol. Since they were both used to drinking, they toasted with vodka instead of champagne. Cristina lined up all six shot glasses and they did two rounds of shots, both feeling the effect of the alcohol pretty fast. Callie was checking her phone for messages or missed calls constantly, aggravating Cristina.

"Don't you think you'll hear your phone if she calls?" she snarled at Callie, immediately regretting her tone when she saw her friend's facial expression.

"She won't call. A _**friend**_ is visiting, so she has no time for me." Callie pouted.

"A friend? So what, her world doesn't revolve around you, deal with it."

"I don't want her world to revolve around me, but I don't want it to revolve around anybody else either. She didn't tell me what kind of friend, for all I know it's her ex-girlfriend. Who knows, I mean we haven't talked about our relationship so much, we haven't said that we're exclusive." Callie was close to tears, which surprised Cristina. She hadn't seen Callie cry in weeks, maybe even months, and even then Callie had always tried to hide that she was crying over George.

"I honestly doubt that Erica is seeing someone else. Her world kinda does revolve around you, in case you haven't noticed. It is pretty obvious. Besides, isn't Hahn all old-school, dating one person at a time?" The ortho doctor laughed at her friend's comments, even though she was still not convinced that her lover's world revolved around her. Callie hadn't heard from Erica, apart from the short message that had just unnerved her even more. Callie wasn't clingy or possessive, but after George had placed her second after his friends so often she was still a bit touchy. For once, she wanted to be someone's number one, the priority in someone's life. In Erica's case, Callie knew that medicine was her main competitor when it came to her love's attention and time and she wanted to at least be the most important _person_ in the blonde's life.

"I've just had enough of friends intruding my relationships. I don't even know the name of Erica's best friend, let alone have I met her."

"You spend most of your time with her, I think **you are** her best friend." Cristina still didn't like Dr. Hahn, but now that her roommate had helped her she had to be nice and cheer her up.

"You think?" Callie asked and snuffled.

"Yeah. What's wrong with you, you're all emotional and shit." Callie laughed at her friend. '_Cristina can really only be nice and human for so long.'_

"I don't know, alcohol or hormones or something."

"I thought you could hold your alcohol pretty well." Cristina stated while pouring vodka into the shot glasses again.

"Come on, stop thinking about Attila the Hahn, she's not dumb. She knows better than to let a catch like you go. Cheers." The friends drowned the alcohol, grimacing as the liquid burned down their throats.

"Thanks, Cristina! To moving!"

"To new starts!" The friends toasted again, drowning round no 4.

* * *

'_God. Why did I drink so much? Oh god. Right. Erica.'_ Callie checked her phone after she got up, but there were still no messages from her love. She showered and drank two cups of coffee, but when she went to work her head still felt as if a truck had rolled over it. Luckily, the day was slow, with no real emergencies coming in. The orthopedic surgeon caught up on her charts and hid out in the residents lounge. By the time her first emergency surgery for the day came into the ER, Callie had sobered up and eaten, ready and happy to operate on a car crash victim.

Sunday was a rare sunny day, which pleased the dark-haired beauty endlessly. Not because she spent the day outside, but because good weather made everybody else spend the day outside, gardening and doing sports, which led to numerous orthopedic surgeries. Callie had back to back surgeries all day and reveled in the distraction. Interesting ortho surgeries still could keep her occupied enough to not think of Erica and get jealous of the person who got to spend the weekend with her love interest. However, when Monday rolled around and Callie was at the hospital, the young doctor couldn't wait to see the blonde again, certain that she would be able to make her feel better. After rounds, Callie spent a good half hour looking all over the hospital for Erica, but when she still hadn't even caught a glance of the blond hair she would recognize everywhere, she got impatient.

"Hey Bailey. I'm sorry to disturb, but have you seen Erica?" Callie knew that the chief resident would know where her love was hiding.

"No, why would I?" Miranda asked back, looking at Callie as if she seeing Erica was as out of the question as seeing the Easter bunny.

"Because she works here? I'm sorry, I just thought you might know. Didn't mean to bother you." '_And here I am, thinking that we were starting to become friends_.'

"Dr. Hahn took the day off, didn't she tell you?"

"Ahm, no she didn't." Miranda furrowed her brows at Callie and asked "You okay?", but the younger doctor didn't register either action. She simply turned and walked away, retreating to the darkness of the back office of the nurses station.

'_Why didn't she tell me that she took the day off? She could have at least left a message. What's wrong with her? And who the fuck is visiting? Is she already dumping me?_' Callie's mind and heart were racing, the uncertainty of the situation weighing heavy on her body. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, took out her phone and hit the speed dial button. Callie waited impatiently, she needed to know that Erica was fine so that she could be angry at her. Erica's phone rang, but after 7 unanswered rings the call was redirected to voice mail. Callie sighed and shut her phone. _**'Damn!'**_

When she heard someone say her name, she looked up. She realized that the nurses were talking just outside the office, but not to her. She wanted to get up and leave, but then she heard them talk about her and Mark, so she started to listen. _'Doesn't hurt to know what the latest gossip is.'_

"Dr. Hahn threw me out of her OR last week when I told Lilly about Callie and Sloan. I told Lilly about them dancing, did you see that? They were practically doing each other at the dance floor. When I mentioned that, Hahn snapped and told me to leave. I think she's jealous, either of Mark because he gets to spend time with her friend or of Callie because she slept with Mark."

"I thought she wasn't interested in McSteamy."

The younger nurse rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. She played hard to get, that's all. Who isn't interested in McSteamy? But now she's disappointed because he lost all interest in her. Have you seen her and Torres hang out lately? They have stopped having their little private lunches and last Friday, Hahn even hid in her office to avoid running across either one of them. Callie tamed Sloan and Hahn can't handle that."

"I heard that Torres is pregnant and the baby is what tamed him. When she came to work on Saturday, she looked like hell. Probably morning sickness."

"Maybe that's why Hahn took the day off. She's angry or jealous. Or both." The older nurse nodded enthusiastically.

"Can you imagine what that baby will look like? Will probably rival the cuteness of the Brangelina babies, with gorgeous parents like that." The nurses smiled, imagining a cute Latino baby.

"That will be a little heart-breaker, so much is clear."

"Yeah, that's true." Miranda summoned one of the nurses, so both got busy and left the nurses station. Nobody noticed Callie and the shocked look on her face.

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A/N: I know that I'm mean, but at the rate I'm writing I might already update tomorrow or in two days. I have absolutely nothing to do at work, so I write half the time. Drama is ensuing!! Hehe


	13. Chapter Thirteen An Unexpected Rain

**Title****:** Doctors don't make promises, do they?  
**Author**: Nelfy  
**Characters:** Callie Torres, Erica Hahn, Callica ship, slight mentions of Mark, Christina and Addison  
**Summary:** This fanfic shows what happened during the season 4 finale and goes further to explore the relationship between Callie and Erica.  
**Spoilers:** Starts with the season 4 finale  
**Rating:** M  
**Disclaimer:** Characters belong to ABC and Shonda Rhimes

**Author's note****:** I'm sorry that I made you wait for this chapter for so long, I am still not happy with it but I don't know how to change it anymore. So I'll just go ahead and post it, I really hope that the next chapters will be better. I borrowed some lines from Shonda to keep them in character, I hope she doesn't mind ;-). I cast Charlize Theron as Angelica, just because I can :D.

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Chapter Thirteen – An Unexpected Rain

Callie was shocked at the gossip she had just heard. The nurses made up stories sometimes, but they were harmless most of the time. Never had they been so wrong. She knew that she wasn't pregnant, but did Erica know that as well?

'_Is this damn rumor the reason why Erica has been absent all weekend? And what was that about Erica hiding from me? She had said that she had to see a patient, but why didn't Cristina need to see the patient? It was true, we haven't had lunch in weeks. We hadn't had lunch since our second kiss. This kiss. __**Damn it!**__ Is Erica really hiding from me?'_ Callie was trying to piece all the information together, but she didn't trust the nurses. _'Erica didn't tell me that she had taken the day off. She also hasn't called me since dinner last week. Why is she not calling me, we talked almost daily before the kiss. Does she not miss me at all? What is wrong with her? I told her that Mark and I are over. Damn it! She started to open up to me and now that! If she weren't so damn stubborn she might actually be able to communicate with me!_'

Callie got up, unnerved by all the gossip and the drama. _'So that's why Cristina warned me against lesbian drama.'_ She went down to the cafeteria to eat before her shift ended, as she wanted to get out of gossip hell as fast as possible. When she spotted Cristina sitting at a table alone, she sat down next to her and asked:

"Remember lunch last Wednesday? Did Erica have a patient that she saw without you?" Cristina seemed to consider the question for a minute, then answered. "Not that I know of, and I know of all of her patients. Did she lie? I got to remove a clot ON MY OWN today, so I'm not exactly sad that Hahn isn't here to teach me."

"Did you know that Erica had taken the day off?" I asked in disbelief.

"No, Bailey told me today. The chief is shadowing me today, but I'm taking care of patients completely on my own. I even let my stupid interns do sutures and showed them how to suture without leaving a huge scar, that's how happy I am. Who knows, I've got more than 30 hours to scrub in on emergent cardio surgeries, someone just has to have a stroke or need a bypass or something."

"Is Erica not coming back tomorrow?" '_Why didn't she tell me?_' Callie was getting really angry at the cardio goddess.  
"No, she took two days off. I thought you knew. Trouble in paradise?" Cristina asked, not sure whether she wanted to know.  
"Yeah, paradise, as if." Luckily, Mark sat down next to Callie and took her thoughts off of Erica for a moment.

"Hey Mark. Have you heard the latest crazy rumor?"  
"When's the last time you've had your period?" the doctor inquired, looking at Callie worried.  
"Ugh, gross! Don't answer that, I don't want to know." Cristina made a face, wondering why on earth McSteamy would ask something like that.  
"So you've heard." Callie grinned at his forthright question. "Last Friday, don't worry. I'm not pregnant."  
"Thank god. I mean, if you had been pregnant, I would have supported you and been there for you, but clearly we are both not interested in kids right now. And please tell Hahn that I didn't get you pregnant, I wouldn't put it past her to cut my balls off." Mark let out a long breath, relieved to find that he had not gotten one of his best friends pregnant.

Callie chuckled at the thought. "I will. How come the nurses say I tamed you? Have you not been on a date since we stopped seeing each other?"

"While you two **girls** talk about your feelings, I'm going to go and find myself a hardcore cardio surgery, which I will perform on my own." Cristina stated and stood up, leaving Mark and Callie to their conversation.

"I haven't been on a date since you, that's true. Seeing you and Hahn made me realize that I am ready for that too. I'm ready to think of one person all the time. So, in a way, you did tame me. Besides, the way the nurses treated me, I'm not going to go near them anymore." Callie was stunned. McSteamy, the manwhore himself, was talking about being with one person.  
"Don't act so shocked. I'm getting older, this was going to happen one day. I certainly can't go the way you go, how's Hahn holding up with you anyways? Did you wear her out already? She **is** older than you are." '_From love to sex in zero seconds'_ Callie smiled, but as soon as she thought of Erica, her smile disappeared.  
"How am I supposed to wear her out, as you so nicely put it, when I don't see her or even hear from her?" Callie sighed and began to tell Mark what had happened when her pager went off.

"Oh, sorry, gotta go. It's a 911."  
"Okay, but call me if you want to talk." _'Mark really has changed!' _Callie thoughtwhile she rushed out of the cafeteria.

When Callie walked outside to wait for the ambulance, Miranda Bailey, Alex Karev and George were already standing there.

"What have we got?" Callie pulled her gown on, tying it up behind her back.  
"Trauma, no real information." Bailey stated, anticipation evident in her voice.  
"So Torres, you preggers?" Alex asked.  
"Karev! How often do I have to tell you, Torres is your superior, respect that some things are not made for your ears!" Bailey scolded. George looked at Callie in surprise, then let his eyes fall to her stomach, trying to make out a baby bump.  
"No, I'm not pregnant." Callie stated and added a "Thank god" under her breath.  
"I thought you wanted to have a baby?" Bailey asked with genuine interest.  
"I did want to have a baby, with my husband. Now that I don't have a husband anymore, the idea of a baby doesn't seem that attractive anymore either." Callie answered, looking at George, who tried his best to vanish against the wall.  
Karev grinned his sly grin, punched George in the stomach with his elbow and let out his signature "Dude!", before their attention was distracted by the siren of the ambulance coming around the corner.

* * *

By the time Callie was up Tuesday morning, she had already missed three calls and gotten two text messages, but there was still no sign of life from Erica on the doctor's mobile phone. Her pride and hurt feelings kept her from calling her friend.

'Are you okay? I was so busy today, I didn't even have time to find you and finish our conversation. Call if you need anything. Mark'

'Mark told me that something is wrong with you and Erica. Call me if you want to talk! Love, Addi.'

'I'm fine, thanks. Don't worry about me! Hugs, Callie' she wrote back.

Callie had not interest to talk or think about Erica anymore. Her supposedly lover hadn't gotten into contact with her long enough to really piss her off and she thought that she'd explode if she talked about the situation right now. Instead, Callie grabbed her Xbox and spent all day glued to the TV-screen.

Both Cristina and Mark told Callie the next day that Erica was back to work, but as the blond doctor spent her morning in back-to-back surgeries, the dark-haired beauty didn't see her until lunch. Callie entered the cafeteria and spotted the blonde sitting at their table, in the company of a stunningly beautiful woman. Erica saw Callie as well and waved her over to their table, but Callie went to buy a sandwich first. When she turned and walked over to the table, she only saw the stranger sitting at their table.

"You must be Callie. Erica was paged, but I would love to have lunch with you. It's so nice to finally meet you, Erica has told me so much about you already!" The woman stretched her hand out to greet Callie.  
"I'm sorry, I wish I could say the same about you, but you are…?" The orthopedic surgeon asked and sat down after shaking the other woman's hand.  
"Angelica Hahn, call me Angie. Erica hasn't told you that I'm in town?"  
"She told me that an old friend was visiting. You are related to her?" Callie was surprised, this was not what she had expected. Over the last few days, the firm idea that an ex-girlfriend of Erica's was in town had been on Callie's mind. There was no other explanation why Erica hadn't told her more about the visitor, except that Erica seemed even harder to get to know than the young doctor had thought.

"I'm her niece. She hasn't told you about me? Hm, now I feel strange knowing all about you and you don't even know who I am. I think I have to explain this thing called manners to her once again." Angie smirked at Callie and then studied her features.  
"You are really as beautiful as Erica said. I thought she was just bragging." Callie blushed at the comment, she started to really like the woman sitting opposite of her.  
"So you are her niece, I didn't know that Erica had siblings, she hasn't shared much about her family yet."  
Angie sighed, she had known Erica long enough to know that the cardiothoracic doctor never shared more information about her family as absolutely necessary. "Erica has a sister, my mum. But we sort of grew up together, I was three when my mum parked me at my grandparent's. Erica was like the perfect older sister, she's only 7 years older than-" Angelica was interrupted by her ringing phone, which she pulled out of her purse and answered with a court "Hahn."

Callie ate her sandwich and watched Angie from the corner of her eyes. '_They aren't related, obviously, but they grew up together. How can they seem so different? Erica would never talk so openly about anything, let alone her family. I wonder what had happened that Angie grew up with her grandparents. Why didn't Erica just say that her niece was visiting, was that too much to ask for?_'

"Okay, bye. Listen, Callie, I'm really sorry, but I have to go now. My rehearsal starts in an hour. Erica asked me to invite you to dinner tonight, at 8, her place."  
"Oh, thanks. Then I guess we'll see each other at 8."  
"It's just going to be you and Erica, I have a concert to play. But you two have a nice evening and it was so nice to finally meet the person Erica just won't shut up about." Angie gave Callie a huge smile that made her eyes sparkle and left.

'_Erica has her niece invite me to dinner?? What the fuck, she can't even invite me to a date in person?_' Even though Callie was relieve that just Erica's niece had spent the weekend with the blonde, her mood hadn't improved at all. Erica kept simple facts from her for no apparent reason whatsoever and Callie was starting to wonder whether they were actually dating for real or whether Erica was just playing with her.

* * *

By the time Callie drove to Erica's house in the evening, her anger and frustration at the whole situation had piled up and while Callie knew that she was ready to explode if Erica said one wrong word, she just couldn't not see her. The dark-haired beauty felt the irresistible pull the older doctor exerted on her. As much as she hated the power Erica had over her heart, she also missed the embrace of the older doctor. She felt save in her lovers arms and she missed the smell and feel of the blond hair. Erica made her feel like she was the only person in the world who mattered when they were alone. However, knowing this feeling made it even harder for Callie that Erica seemed to avoid her at work.

In the meanwhile, Erica was excitedly cooking for Callie, looking forward to seeing her love again. Her weekend had been filled with the whirlwind called Angelica and as much as she loved her niece, nothing beat time spent with Callie.

"Hey, there you are!" Erica smiled at Callie and leaned in with the intention of kissing her dinner date. The raven beauty, however, leaned back against the door and looked at Erica sternly.  
"I'm not pregnant." Callie stated, her tone almost sullen.  
"I'm sorry?" Erica furrowed her brows, confused that Callie hadn't kissed her and by her statement.  
"I said I'm not pregnant. Haven't you heard **that** rumor yet?"  
"No, I haven't. I know that you're not pregnant, you would have told me if you were pregnant."  
"Yeah, because I **communicate**. You know, that thing were you say things to other people, inform them of stuff that happens in you life. Ever heard of that?" Callie sounded a bit like a grouchy teenager, but she didn't care. Erica's good mood just made her even angrier.

"What are you talking about Callie? Are you angry with me?"  
"Damn sure I am! Why didn't you tell me that _**your niece**_ was visiting. Would it have been too much information to share with me?"  
Erica laughed, still surprised by the way Callie was acting. "I didn't think you would care so much about that."  
"Do not laugh at me. You do not get to laugh at me. For all I knew, your ex-girlfriend could have been the one visiting you. You keep so much from me, how would I know?"  
Erica didn't say anything, she didn't know where Callie's outburst come from. Erica knew that Callie was right, she kept things from her date because she had a hard time sharing anything with anybody. She couldn't excuse her behavior, so she didn't say anything at all.

"Why didn't you tell me that you kicked a nurse out of your OR for talking about me?"  
"I am going to kill Yang. You don't need to know the bullshit the nurses gossip about you, that's just going to hurt you." Erica's face went cold, anger flaring up inside of her gut.  
"You still could have mentioned the incident! Wait. What does that have to do with Cristina?"  
"She told you, didn't she?"  
"No, I overheard the nurses talk about it. Cristina knew about that? So that was what your glances were about. You made MY FRIEND lie to me?" Callie had raised her voice and was close to tears.

"Callie, _please_. I just asked her to not mention it, this is nothing. Why are you so upset?" Erica started to panic. She had happily pushed the incident to the back of her mind and now her protective behavior was going to bite her in the ass.

"YOU HAVE BEEN AVOIDING ME AT WORK! I DON'T HEAR FROM YOU IN A WEEK, APART FROM THAT STUPID MESSAGE THAT COULDN'T HAVE BEEN ANY SHORTER! What am I to you? I'm not going to do this again, being placed second behind whatever is more important to you." Tears were spilling down her cheeks and Erica had trouble understanding the last part of the sentence. She was completely overwhelmed, Callie had jumped from one thing to the next and Erica was speechless, she didn't even know which accusation to address first.

Callie looked at Erica and turned to leave, disappointed that the person who had stolen her heart didn't even defend her actions.

"Wait, Callie, don't go." Erica wrapped her arms around Callie from behind and held onto her tight, even though Callie struggled against the embrace.  
"Let me go!" Callie was sobbing again, but had stopped struggling.  
"No, I won't. We're going to talk about this." Erica knew that she couldn't let Callie leave right now, she cared too much about the raven beauty to not talk this out. Slowly, she sat down on the floor and pulled Callie with her, holding her tight and rocking her softly. Callie leaned back into the older woman and started to calm down, her sobs growing softer. When she pulled out a handkerchief and blew her nose, Erica loosened her embrace. She cupped Callie's cheek and pulled her face back softly, leaning forward and looking at the younger woman.

"Are you okay? Can we do this on the sofa?"  
"No. Yes." A single tear rolled down Callie's cheek, brushed away by Erica's thumb.  
"Come on." Erica stood up and helped Callie up as well, leading the young woman into the living room. She got a glass of water from the kitchen and sat down next to Callie, who snuggled close immediately.  
"I'm still angry at you."  
"Okay." Erica couldn't help but smile. If someone had told the cardio goddess that Callie was pregnant she would have probably believed them right away.  
"You didn't tell me that you had taken two days off."  
"I'm sorry."  
"And you didn't even bother to call or invite me to dinner in person."  
"I'm sorry."

Callie sighed and sat up to look at Erica. "Is that all you're going to say? That you're sorry?"  
"I am sorry. I don't know what else I'm supposed to say."  
"Did you not think of me at all on the weekend? Did it not occur to you that I might enjoy hearing your voice?"  
"I did think of you, all I do is thinking of you. I'm sorry, I'm not used to this, I haven't been in a relationship in a really long time. I got wrapped up in Angie, we had so much to catch up on."  
"She said that you told her a lot about me." Erica blushed and averted her eyes from Callie's.  
"I did. She's like a sister to me, I just had to tell her about you, about us. She's the first person I told about us, I wasn't planning on telling her about our relationship but then I just couldn't hide it from her. I hope you're okay with that?" Erica rushed out.

"Why wouldn't I be? You can tell all your friends about us, I don't mind. I don't want us to hide." Callie paused, gathering all her courage and asked again "What am I to you, Erica?" Now it was time for Erica to sigh.

"I honestly don't know. You are my best friend, but you are also so much more. Girlfriend sounds so juvenile. Do we have to find a name for what we are? I know what I feel for you and how much I-" Erica caught herself, pausing for a second before saying "like you." Callie's breath caught, her eyes searching Erica's. Erica was looking everywhere but at Callie. She had nearly let it slip that she loved the younger doctor and she had to fight very hard to keep the blush spreading over her cheeks. Callie saw Erica's cheeks turn red lightly and smiled. "I like you very much too!" Erica looked up and saw in Callie's eyes what the raven beauty really meant. They kissed, hands moving to cup cheeks and run fingers through long hair.

Against her own will, Erica pulled back.  
"Dinner is getting cold." She smiled at her love apologetically, neither wanted to stop. Callie whined, but when her stomach grumbled they laughed and got up.

"I know that we just started seeing each other and I don't want to push you. My marriage was ruined because of secrets -" "Your marriage was ruined because your husband cheated on you!" "Yes, but it had a lot to do with me hiding things from George. But I don't want us to hide things from each other and I want to know stuff about you. Like the fact that you have a sister." Erica sighed and waited for Callie to continue instead of saying anything herself.  
"So, I'm going to tell you something I'm uncomfortable with and then you have to do the same."  
"Can't we just let things take their natural course? This seems really forced."  
"Well, obviously the natural course doesn't work so well for us. I'm sorry if I was rude before, I tend to get rude when I'm angry. This is going to be fun, you'll see!" Callie flashed Erica a smile and the blonde couldn't help but smile back. Callie tended to have that effect on her.

"So, I'll start. I'm really rich and I used to have a pet ferret."  
"How did you become rich?"  
"Well, my parents are rich and as a consequence I'm rich. Money has affected every single one of my relationships and I still have to meet a person who doesn't see me differently after I told them."  
"Why the hell do you live on Yang's couch when you are rich?"  
"I don't live there because it's cheap. I didn't want to live alone after my marriage ended and she was looking for a roommate. But we're going to move next month, we found a new apartment! With two bedrooms!" Callie said excitedly.  
"We?" Erica was suspicious, she feared for the worse, which was that Callie would still live with Yang in her new apartment.  
"Me and Cristina." Erica's face fell, but she didn't say anything. She pursed her lips and bit her tongue just to keep her mouth from saying what she was thinking.  
"Erica, don't look so disappointed."  
"I just thought that if you moved, you would move to a place where we would have some privacy."  
"We will have plenty of privacy. I have my own bedroom and bathroom. Cristina is my friend, you have to learn to accept that. And don't ever make her keep something from me again – don't use your power to mess with my friendships."  
"I'm sorry. I've just had enough of the nurses talking about you and Sloan - and I quote - 'practically doing each other on the dance floor'."  
"What? What are you talking about?"  
"Apparently, half of the hospital saw you and Sloan dance at Joe's. I guess I must have missed one hell of a show." Erica shrugged, she tried to sound careless but Callie picked up the hurt in her voice.  
"We were just dancing! Mark and I are over, if you actually spent any time with us then you would know that." Callie was so sick of everybody thinking that she and Mark were a couple that she got defensive immediately.

"Ouch. So you're saying it's my fault?"

"**NO!** God! I- I just-… I don't want us to fight. Mark and I, we're just friends, please don't listen to what the nurses say. According to them, I'm pregnant!"

"It's hard not to listen to it when you hear it all the time. I'm sorry, I trust you, I know that you're not sleeping with Mark anymore. I just don't quite understand how you went back to being friends with him so easily."  
"We never were more than friends. I mean we were friends with benefits, but we never were a couple. Any more questions?"  
"No." They ate in silence, their mood dampened by their discussions.

Even though Erica wouldn't admit it, she was still hurt by Callie's recent 'gay-panic sexcapades'. While she partly understood the behavior, it had hurt to see Callie chose Mark over her.

When they were finished with dinner, the couple moved to the living room, watching TV and lost in thought.

"Even though I was angry at you, I still missed you. Can we forget all that stuff for a moment and just cuddle, please?" Callie asked. She knew that Erica and her would have to overcome certain barriers, but wanted to be near to her lover none the less. Erica smiled at her lovingly and opened her arms in an inviting gesture.

"Of course! I really missed you too." The younger doctor cuddled into the blondes embrace, inhaling her distinct smell. The two women sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the weather forecast.

"I'm sorry that I hurt your feelings. My relationship with Angie is complicated and I don't see her often, so I try to spend as much time as possible with her when she's in town. Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?" Callie looked up, a mischievous grin lighting up her face.

"I know something that would make me feel better immediately." The raven beauty said, wiggling her brows.

Erica raised hers, asking "So? What would that be?"

Callie didn't answer but instead let her actions talk. She attacked Erica, hungrily kissing the older woman. Erica's hands fell to the hem of Callie's shirt and she let them slip under the fabric, stroking Callie's bronze-colored skin. Callie's fingers grabbed strands of the blond hair, pulling the cardio goddess even closer. Erica moaned, tightly gripping Callie's hips. A small laugh escaped Callie's lips and she pulled away. "Erica Hahn, are you into pain?" she teased, passion evident on her face. Erica just rolled her eyes and kissed the younger woman, lightly biting Callie's full lower lip. The young woman moaned, her hands tugging at Erica's shirt. They moved apart, simultaneously pulling at each others shirts. Erica finally succeeded to strip Callie of her shirt, immediately attacking her breasts. She softly bit Callie's breasts through the bra, making Callie gasp.

"Wait." Callie barely managed to sputter the word, but when Erica paused fondling her breasts she repeated the word "Wait. Please, I'm sorry. I've been in the hospital all day and I didn't shower at work, so could I maybe take a shower before we do this?"

"You want to shower before we get dirty?" Erica teased, but then agreed. The blonde gave her lover a few minutes alone in the shower and then got ready to join her when she heard the front door open and Angie shouting a greeting into the house.

Erica moved to the bedroom door and let her niece know where they were and then put on her bathrobe. Angie knocked on the open door and then stepped into the room, looking at Erica and the bathroom door.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I should have know that the car in the driveway belongs to Callie. I'm going to go to bed."  
"Wait. How was your concert?"  
"Great. Amazing, the orchestra is really good. The house was full, all concerts are sold out. I have two tickets for you for Friday, I thought you might want to take Callie with you."  
"Thanks. I'll have to ask her, see whether she has to work or not." Erica heard the shower being turned off, but didn't really pay it any attention.

"I really like her. You know, I thought you were just trying to show off, telling me how beautiful she is. But she really is gorgeous, even I would date her!" Angie smirked at her aunt, teasing her.  
"I thought you were straight?"  
"I am, but you know, I'd so go gay for her!"  
"Erica, I'm ready." Callie stepped out of the bathroom, naked as the day she was born. The dark-haired beauty wanted to surprise her lover and be bold, but when she saw Angelica stand in the room she stopped dead in her tracks, blushing furiously.

"**Callie!**" Erica instinctively covered Angie's eyes with her hands and shoved her niece out of her room, a blush spreading over her cheeks as well.

Angie just laughed at the whole incident. "Yep, I'd totally go gay for her. Good night, you two."


	14. Chapter Fourteen You can sleep while I

**Title****:** Doctors don't make promises, do they?  
**Author**: Nelfy  
**Characters:** Callie Torres, Erica Hahn, Callica ship, slight mentions of Mark, Christina and Addison  
**Summary:** This fanfic shows what happened during the season 4 finale and goes further to explore the relationship between Callie and Erica.  
**Spoilers:** Starts with the season 4 finale  
**Rating:** M  
**Disclaimer:** Characters belong to ABC and Shonda Rhimes

**Author's note****:** I finally kicked writer's block's ass – and I'm really sorry it took me so long! I hope the next chapters will be easier, this update is really long! As I mentioned before, I'm going somewhere, so please bear with me. There will be some drama, but I really think it's going to be interesting!! Comments, suggestions, ideas are appreciated, as usual!

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Chapter Fourteen – You can sleep while I drive

The doctors went to bed and made love, slowly exploring the other person's body and bringing each other pleasure. After their first round they both instinctively stopped, their fight was still at the back of their minds and their love-making had showed them that there was a connection between them that was worth fighting for, but that they needed to talk about what had happened.

"You told me about the money, so I'm going to tell you about my family. Please let me explain everything before you interrupt or form your opinion." The couple lay cuddling on the bed, Erica propped up against the headboard and Callie propped up against Erica, her head resting on Erica's shoulder.

"Okay."

"The reason why I didn't tell you that Angie is my niece is because I didn't really want you to meet her. She's a great person and even though we are alike in some points, we are also very different. She's driven and smart like me, but she's also really sociable and generally gets along great with everybody. I didn't want you to meet her and realize how flawed I am."

"You're not flawed!" Callie looked up and saw the disbelief in Erica's eyes.

"I hurt your feelings and I didn't even realize it. I'm not good at relationships, any kind of relationships and these things were always so easy for Angie. You could have met her and realized how much better off you would be with her. She is so many things that I am, but also younger, better looking and generally easier to get to know."

"Erica, your niece is really nice but I'm not interested in her. Not in that way. I'm into you because you are the way you are. Don't you remember, we both don't like people. We're both not sociable. I can't deny it, Angelica is beautiful, but looking at her doesn't make my knees go weak. I wouldn't compare her to you, I don't do that. Where do you get that idea from?"

Erica sighed and it was clear that she was searching for the right words. "My parents… they loved me. But… but they compared us a lot. First, before Angie was born, they compared me to her mother, Julia. I was all the things she wasn't. Julia is a restless soul, she was a very difficult child and it just got worse the older she got. At 16, she went on tour with her band, but she didn't tell our parents, she just left a note and called from time to time. My parents adopted me because they wanted to have one child that would feel like their own, ironically, because I wasn't theirs. But I fulfilled their expectations, I was a mellow child and already smart back then. When Angie was born I had already skipped one class and I had been the perfect daughter. But then they realized that they had a responsibility towards their grandchild and so they convinced Julia to let Angie live with them, she was more interested in touring and music anyways and couldn't provide a steady life for her daughter." Erica sighed and thought about how to continue. While Erica had told her story, Callie had realized that she had lied. She had already compared Angie to Erica and it made her feel bad about her own thoughts. It didn't matter to her that Angie was easier to get to know, it was still Erica she was falling for. Falling for **hard**.

"You were ten, right? And Angie was three?" Callie hadn't wanted to interrupt Erica's flow, so she had just listened up to this point. She hoped her question would egg on Erica.

"Yes. It took me pretty long to get accustomed to the new situation. I just didn't know what to do with her. She was cute and all but I was **so** socially retarded. Angie would follow me around the house, watch what I did and tried to copy me. I learned to look out for her and we started to do everything together. On the rare occasion that a friend would come over, I still let her play with me and soon I found out that my friends liked her more than they liked me. She was so much fun, she laughed all the time, so I understood why they liked her but I didn't want to share my friends with her. I had to share my parents and all my toys, so I didn't ask my friends to come over anymore. Soon I lost most of the few friends that I had. I didn't blame her, though. It got easier the older I got, but I remember when I went away for college I was excited because I thought I would for once have friends that I didn't need to share with her. Turned out I didn't really have friends at college, because I only knew how to deal with my 12-year-old niece."

"I'm sorry."  
"Don't be. We get along great now, but I just don't mix family and friends."  
"Don't you think that it would be different now?"  
"Honestly, I don't want to give it a try."  
"So if you didn't want her to meet me, why did you take her to the hospital with you?"

Erica snorted. "It's not like I had a choice. She threatened to fake a dislocated shoulder just to find you because I refused to give her your last name. Apparently, she met Sloan as well, but didn't tell him who she was."  
"Did he hit on her? He told me that he wants to find one person to spend his time with, you know? Stop man-whoring around." Callie grinned and Erica raised her eyebrows.  
"I highly doubt that. He talked to Angie, she said that he was very friendly, but didn't really hit on her. Wait. Why does he want to change his ways? Did he realize how great you are and wants you back?"

Callie furrowed her brows. "No, Erica. He said he wants what we have."  
"You mean he wants **in** on what we have."  
Callie rolled her eyes "Give him a chance. He wants to change, I really believe him. And I want you two to get along, okay?"  
"I'll try. I'm still creeped out by how long he tried to get into my pants. But enough about him, I honestly don't want any part of him in my bed, not even the thought of him. Are we going to talk about what happened today?"  
"Tomorrow. I'm too tired now. Thanks for telling me about you family."  
"You're welcome."

They went to sleep, face to face, their souls touching even though their bodies weren't.

_

* * *

_

(Callie's POV)

'_Mpf. Too early._' I heard the alarm clock and knew that I had to get up unless I wanted to be late for work. I patted the right side of the bed, trying to locate Erica and tell her to turn off the alarm, but the bed was empty. Grudgingly, I got up and went to the bathroom, disappointed when I found the room empty as well. I brushed my teeth and hair and put on my boy shorts and one of Erica's tank tops. As I stepped out into the hallway, I remembered the last evening. Why I always ended up naked in front of my lovers' friends was a mystery to me. All members of George's "family" had seen me in some states of undress and the humiliation of it wasn't quite erased from my mind yet. With Cristina it was actually her own damn fault because she barged in on me brushing my teeth naked, but it didn't stop her from checking me out. Just the thought of the incident made me laugh as I walked back into the bedroom and slipped in Erica's bathrobe.

When I walked down the stairs, I could hear Erica's and Angie's voices travel from the kitchen. They were talking animatedly and both laughed at something Erica said. I didn't want to intrude, so I said a loud "Good morning!" as I entered the kitchen.

"I hope you're fully dressed. Angie has seen enough of my girlfriend for my taste!" Erica said, but her tone and grin gave away that she wasn't really serious or mad. She kissed me in front of her niece which, to be honest, did surprise me. I enjoyed her kiss even more as she had just referred to me as her '_girlfriend'_. She knew what she wanted and it felt good to be the one she wanted. It felt good to be wanted.

"You know, I really wouldn't mind. You don't have to dress just because I'm here, pretend that I'm not." Angie said in my direction and made me blush. Erica shot her a look that would make even residents duck but Angie seemed unimpressed.  
"I'm using all of my aunt power to tell you to stop thinking about or even looking at Callie!" Erica getting all possessive about me was new, but I really liked it, even though we all knew that Angie was just teasing her.  
"When I think of you as my older sister, it seems perfectly fine that I have a crush on your _girlfriend_." Angie drew out the word and winked at me. "But when I think of you as my aunt, which technically you are, my crush is kinda incestuously gross. No offence, Callie."  
I laughed at her comment and so did Erica. "Callie is actually younger than you are." Erica said, a wide smile spread all over her face.

Angie looked at me, gave me what I would interpret as her 'winning smile' and asked "Want to ditch the old horse and run away with me?" Erica turned to me, brows raised, suddenly very interested in what I had to say.  
"I'm very sorry to disappoint you, but this _old horse_ has me captivated." Erica smiled at me and we kissed, this time I didn't care about Angie but let my tongue sneak out and trace Erica's lip.  
"Damn! I think I might have to pick up that handsome doctor, Mark Sloan, right?"  
"Oh god." Erica groaned and rolled her eyes. "You're just going to catch an STD."

I giggled and decided to push Erica's buttons a bit. "I can only recommend McSteamy's services. He knows what he's doing." I winked at Angie, who tried to hide the shocked look. Securing my place in Erica's bed, I added "Nearly as much as Erica does."

"Okay. I'm going to go now and get ready for work. I want to go in early, so why don't you sit down and have breakfast, I made waffles. I'll see you at work then. And you-" She pointed her finger at Angie "-be good! I'll see you at night, I guess?"

"I'm always good. Bye."

Erica left the kitchen and I put two waffles on my plate, pouring syrup over them. I dug in and groaned at the great taste. Erica was a genius in the kitchen, something I envied as I couldn't cook to save my life. How she had found the time to learn to cook like that was a mystery to me, with work and research and generally being a cardio goddess.

"So, you've been with Mark Sloan? Erica said he's a manwhore."  
"Well, he sort of is. But he's not just a playa, he's a good guy, he wants to change. But Erica and Mark, they don't get along well."  
"He was friendly and charming, but he didn't hit on me. I have to admit I was surprised, men like him always hit on me. Could you play matchmaker a bit? Please? He's really my kind of guy, sexy and all." Angie looked at me like a sad puppy, a face that probably worked on most people.

"Isn't that going to get me killed by Erica?" I wasn't sure how protective Erica was over her niece and I didn't want her to get mad at me.  
"No, she knows me. I can look out for myself and as I travel so much, I don't mind the occasional fun with some random guy. By the way, did Erica tell you about the concert tomorrow night?"  
"No, she didn't."  
"I have two tickets for the two of you, it starts at eight, do you have to work?" I thought about my schedule for a moment.  
"No, I don't. What kind of concert is it?"  
"It's the Seattle symphony orchestra and I play the solos. Vivaldi."  
"So I assume you play the violin?"  
"Yes, I do. Erica really didn't tell you anything about me, did she?" Angie didn't sound or look too surprised, which proved to me that Erica was being open with me, compared to her other relationships.

"We talked, last night." I didn't say more, but Angie knew what I meant. "You must be really good. Vivaldi has created some of the most difficult violin solos there are."  
"I am. Are you interested in classical music?"  
"Not that much, but my mum loved Mozart and Beethoven and she dragged me to enough concerts. She wanted me to play an instrument or at least become a professional opera singer, but I refused. I loved medicine and bones too much."

"Would you have had the talent to become a professional musician?" I shrugged, wondering how I could answer the question without lying. My mum had always made such a big fuss over my voice that I never told anyone about it because I didn't want to be a living record player. She would make me perform at parties and family gatherings until I pretended to have a sore throat.

When I didn't answer, Angie changed back to our initial conversation.  
"So, I'm here till Sunday, how about we go out Saturday evening and accidentally meet McSteamy? Come on, I can't let a guy called '_McSteamy'_ just go like that." I smiled at her, her persistence reminding me of Mark's when he tried to seduce Erica.  
"Okay, we can go to Joe's and _accidentally_ meet him there. That should be easy to arrange. But I am in no way involved in this, in case someone asks."  
"Of course. Thank you so much!"

* * *

While I drove to work, my pager went off twice. I wasn't on call or late, so something major must have happened. I rushed to change into my scrubs and met Cristina in the elevator.

"What happened?"

"Huge accident, the driver of a school bus had a stroke. Forty five and six-year olds. No fatalities up to now, but the kids just started coming in."

Damn. Children were generally the most difficult patients, medically and psychologically spoken. The ER was already bustling with activity, several children had already arrived that the hospital and Bailey was shouting orders. I rushed to the first patient, a small blond girl who looked completely terrified. She had a green triage sticker on her chest. I checked her extremities and her chest and asked her whether she was hurt. After making sure that she was not, I lifted her off the gurney

"Lexie. Take the girl to the clinic, she seems fine. The nurses will take care of her. Come back right away!" I handed Lexie the patient and took the gurney back outside to the next ambulance that was already rushing in. For the next few hours, patient after patient was rushed into the ER and treated. I worked with Lexie, partly because Cristina had vanished to scrub in and left her fourth intern behind and partly because I liked Lexie. She seemed very nice and showed some interest in orthopedics, something I secretly took pride in. There was a lack of good orthopedic surgeons as most surgeons looked down on my specialty. Every promising intern I could convince that orthopedics was not just 'carpentry' and brutal force was a small victory.

When I thought we had survived the income of little patients and could now work on the less urgent cases, Bailey called me over to a small boy who was just brought in.

"They had to cut him out of the wreck. This chest and abdomen looks clear, but his left leg looks pretty bad." I removed the blanket and heard Lexie gasp next to me. The boy's leg was mangled, broken in at least three or four places. I immediately knew that we had to get him into surgery as quickly as possible if we didn't want to loose the leg.

"I've got this, Bailey. What's the patient's name?"  
"Tommy Cook."  
I covered his leg back up and moved to his head, smiling at him. Tommy was clearly in pain and his lower lip quivered, yet he didn't cry.  
"Hi Tommy, I'm Callie. I am going to take care of your leg, make the pain go away, okay? Does your tummy hurt?"  
"N- no… just my leg." I ruffled his dark hair and smiled at him, trying to reassure him. The x-ray machine arrived and I took the picture, then sent Lexie to prep him for surgery. His shin was splintered, but the fractures were nothing I couldn't repair.

I went to scrub in and Lexie came to tell me that he was ready.  
"Want to scrub in?" Lexie smiled, a sad smile but a smile none the less.  
"Yes."  
"Okay. But I will need you to help me in there, I can't fix his leg alone. So if you feel this is too much for you, it's better to tell me right now so I can call a second attending."

Lexie looked at me, a bit of fear and uncertainty crossed her face but then she smiled again.

"I'll do whatever you tell me to."

"Alright then. Let's save Tommy's leg."

The surgery went smoothly, but until I had repaired the chin, the knee cap and the ankle five hours had passed. When the nurse rolled him out of the OR, I was exhausted but knew that I still had some work waiting for me in the pit.

"Great job, Lexie." The younger Grey looked at me with pride in her eyes, obviously Cristina was still not praising her interns.  
"Thank you. Also for letting me scrub in. I've never been allowed to help operate so much."  
"You're welcome. You seem to have a talent for orthopedics. Don't let Cristina talk you out of it if you are really interested in it."  
"She says it's carpentry, but what you did in here, you saved a boys leg! If it hadn't been for you, he might have never been able to ride a bike or run around and play ball."

We smiled, both happy that the surgery on Tommy had been a success. _'I have to let her scrub in more often. Cristina isn't going to encourage her to choose orthopedics as a specialty, that's for sure.'_

"Can you monitor him for me? I'm going to check on him later, but I have other patients to see."  
"Yeah, sure."

I went to the clinic to put some broken arms and legs in casts and by the time Bailey told me to go home, I hadn't eaten all day, had only sat down for about 20 minutes and had seen Erica for five short minutes. I decided to check on Tommy one last time and talk to his parents and then I would head home.

Lexie was in his room, charting.  
"Hey. Has he woken up yet?"  
"No. His vitals are stable and good, he stirred twice in the last half hour but he's didn't open his eyes."  
"Ok. Where are his parents?"  
"They are on their way, but they were on a plane to New York when it happened so they had to wait for the next plane to get back here."  
"When does your shift end?"  
"Tomorrow."  
"Can you stay here with him? I know that the nurses can monitor him, but he's only 5 years old and he already knows you."  
"No problem. I want to stay with him?"  
"Take a break, I'll stay here for a while. Eat something and then come back."

Lexie left and I sat down next to the bed, looking at the small black-haired boy. He stirred again and slowly opened his eyes.

"Mummy?"  
"Your mummy isn't here yet. Do you remember me?" I said softly.  
"Callie?"  
I smiled at him. "Yes, that's right. How's your leg, does it still hurt?"  
"No. It feels funny."

Funny was always a good thing. It meant that the leg was still numb and the pain medication was doing its job.

"Good. You should go back to sleep. Your parents will be here in the morning." Tommy's lower lip started to quiver again so I moved from the chair to his bed.

"My mummy sings to me. I want my mummy." A tear ran down his cheek and my heart literally broke. I tried to think of a lullaby and the first song that came to my mind was "Summertime", a song my mum had often sung to me.

"Shhh, Tommy. Do you know summertime? How about I sing summertime for you?"  
Tommy shook his head, but looked at me expectantly, so I started to sing.

"_Summertime, and the living is easy  
__Fish are jumping, and the cotton is high  
__Your daddy's rich, and your ma is good looking  
__So hush little baby, don't you cry.  
__One of these mornings, you're gonna rise up singing  
__You're gonna spread your wings and take the sky  
__But till that morning, there is nothing can harm you  
__With your daddy and mommy standing by "_

I had to sing it three times until he finally fell asleep, but I stayed seated on his bed a little longer to watch his chest rise and fall and see whether he would wake up again.

_

* * *

_

(Erica's POV)

The day at work had been crazy, with so many little children being hurt in the accident. Luckily, I only had to work on the bus driver and the teacher. When the bus driver came in, all I could do was pronounce his time of death, as the stroke had done too much damage to the heart muscle. The teacher had a tear in her lung due to a puncture wound, but I was able to repair the damage and successfully complete the surgery.

It was nearing eight o'clock and I hadn't heard from Callie. I had told her to call me or let me know when she would leave, so I knew that she was still at the hospital. After unsuccessfully trying to call her, I decided to go and find her. Luckily, I met Lexie Grey, who had worked with Callie most of the day, in the hallway.

"Dr. Grey!" She ducked, seemingly surprised by my call. Maybe my tone had been harsh, but I somehow enjoyed the reaction I could get from interns, even though this was not supposed to please me.

"Dr. Hahn. Did I do something wrong?"  
"No, I just wanted to ask whether you happen to know where Dr. Torres is."  
"Yes, she's with a patient, Tommy Cook, Room 305."  
"Thank you."

I made my way to the room, hoping that my _girlfriend_ would still be there. Finding someone in the hospital wasn't exactly easy, a fact that I had proven many times by hiding very easily from whomever I didn't want to see or talk to.

As I approached the room, I could hear someone softly singing and I wondered whether a patient was watching "Porgy and Bess" on TV. I turned to enter room 305 when I realized that the singing was coming from this room. The door was ajar and I could see Callie sitting on the patient's bed, softly singing to him. Her voice sounded amazing and the same way her patient looked at her in awe, I did too. I had had no idea how well Callie could sing and I wondered why I had never taken her to karaoke. She would have kicked my ass, but it would still have been a delight. When she stopped singing, I still didn't enter, as I didn't want to interrupt her time with the little boy. He looked like he had fallen asleep, calmed by the lullaby. When Callie got up, she looked up and suddenly realized that I was standing at the door. She blushed and averted her eyes, straitening out her scrubs as she walked to the door.

"God, Callie, I had no idea! That was so beautiful, your voice is amazing!" I whispered as I didn't want to wake the boy but Callie still didn't look at me.  
"Thanks. I thought you must have gone home already."  
"I wanted to wait for you, see whether you might care to join me."

Callie turned and looked at the boy, checking whether he was still asleep and then saw Lexie Grey walk towards us in the hallway. I took a step back, not wanting the intern to see us standing so close but inwardly smacking myself on the forehead.

"He woke up and asked about his parents, but now he's asleep again. You might have to sing to him if he wakes up again, but he should be fine."  
"Okay. I can stay with him until his parents arrive."  
"Good."

Dr. Grey entered the boy's room and Callie carefully closed the door. She grabbed my hand and pulled me into the supply closet on the other side of the hallway. I stood there dumbfounded as she closed the door and leaned against it, still looking at the floor.

"I'm not going to make out with you in here, if that's what you want."

Callie's shoulders started to shake and I realized that she was crying. She started to sob and as much as I didn't know why, I opened my hands and said "Come here." She closed the distance between us with two small steps and wrapped her arms around my waist.

"Sshh, it's okay, baby. Everything's fine." Callie pulled me even closer and leaned her head against my shoulder.

"He's so little. He's just five years old and he is all alone and he's so little." I had a hard time understanding what she was saying, but I immediately knew what was wrong. Working on children was one of the most difficult things a doctor had to do, no matter how often we saw hurt kids. It never got any easier, even if the situation wasn't life-threatening.

I held Callie tight and rubbed her back, softly telling her that she did a great job and that he would be fine and all of the things I could think of in this moment. I felt Callie relax and she lightened her grip on me, simply leaning into my embrace.

When the door opened and Lexie Grey entered the closet, I jumped away from Callie, leaving her standing there completely on her own. I regretted my reaction immediately, but it was too late.

"Oh. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I, I just need a blanket. Tommy's cold, I wanted to get him another blanket. I'm sorry."

"It's fine, Lexie. I'll get him one." Callie snuffled and wiped her face with her sleeve, then took one of the blankets from the shelve next to her and left the room. Lexie stood there and looked at me for a moment, but then had the flash of insight to turn and leave. I trailed after her, afraid what Callie would make of my reaction. We waited outside of the patient's room and to not let any uncomfortable silence arise, I decided to strike up a conversation.

"Dr. Torres told me you did a good job today in surgery and that you are considering orthopedics as your specialty." _'Great. Using Dr. Torres won't make her forget what she just saw. Really fucking great.' _

Grey beamed at me, a smile lit up her face that made her eyes sparkle.

"Seriously? She told you about our surgery? Yeah, she let me help operate and it was amazing, we saved Tommy's leg. Well, she did, but I helped!" Grey was obviously proud of her skills, in a childlike manner, but proud none the less. As if she hadn't believe in her skills before the surgery.

"Don't let Yang disencourage you. Orthopedics is an important field of medicine, even if most surgeons look down on the specialty. Take Dr. Torres as an example, most surgeons in this hospital compete for her service on their patients. As long as you are great in what you are doing, the specialty isn't of great importance. It's better to be great at orthopedics than mediocre at general surgery."

Lexie looked at me as if she had just seen a ghost. She had probably never thought that I was able to be _**nice**_, especially nice to an intern. Luckily, Callie saved us from any more awkwardness.

"He's asleep again. I gave him some more lidocaine, so he should be good for the night. I guess it would have knocked him out anyways, even the low dosage would make him drowsy."

"Okay. Good night, Dr. Torres. Dr. Hahn." Dr. Grey nodded at us and entered the boy's room.  
Callie sighed and started to walk towards the elevator. Halfway through the hall she asked "Why did you wait for me? Your shift ended at least two hours ago."  
"I did some charting and research and I just wanted to check whether you were okay. See if you might want to come home with me."

"I'm tired, I just want to go to bed." Callie still wasn't looking at me and I felt guilty for having behaved like an idiot. I didn't want to hurt her, but somehow I just couldn't help myself. I had no intention of becoming the latest news item on the gossip mill of Seattle Grace.

"My bed is way more comfortable than Yang's couch. Besides, you shouldn't drive, you're too tired." I nudged her shoulder to lighten the mood but didn't get any reaction, apart from a sigh.

"Okay. I need to change." We rode the elevator in silence and I followed her to the residents lounge. I'd never been there, but when I saw Yang sitting inside I decided to keep it that way. Grey seeing us together had been enough for me, I didn't need an encounter with Yang as well.

When Callie had changed and left the lounge, we finally drove home in my car. She fell asleep after five minutes and as much as I hated waking her up, I had to as she was too heavy for me to carry up the stairs. I lead her to the bedroom and I helped her out of her cloths, replacing her shirt with one of mine. While I changed and brushed my teeth, Callie fell asleep on the bed again, so I simply pulled the covers over her body and spooned her back, pulling her closer to me.

I was used to sleeping alone and on the rare occasions that I had slept with a man, I had hardly stayed the night. Other people breathing next to me or touching me in my sleep made it impossible for me to relax and I hated being woken up by some noise every half hour. At the hospital, I was used to being woken when necessary, so I relished eight hours of uninterrupted, sound sleep. With Callie, things were different. I had gotten used to her sleeping in my bed after our first night together, so much that sleeping alone felt strange to me now. I missed her when I went to bed alone, even though we hadn't spent that many nights together yet. It wasn't even necessarily the sex that I was missing, even though the sex was pretty amazing. I had never realized how big and cold my bed was, until I shared it with Callie. Callie seemed to fill every void in my life without me noticing that it had been there. But when she wasn't around, I suddenly noticed how quite the house was and how much I wanted it to be filled with life.

So even though we just slept that night, I was still glad that I had been able to convince her to come home with me. I hoped that I could put her mind to rest the way she did with mine.


	15. Chapter Fifteen Similar Features

**Title****:** Doctors don't make promises, do they?  
**Author**: Nelfy  
**Characters:** Callie Torres, Erica Hahn, Callica ship, slight mentions of Mark, Christina and Addison  
**Summary:** This fanfic shows what happened during the season 4 finale and goes further to explore the relationship between Callie and Erica.  
**Spoilers:** Starts with the season 4 finale  
**Rating:** M  
**Disclaimer:** Characters belong to ABC and Shonda Rhimes

**Author's note****:** I just realized that I haven't updated here in a while, I'm really sorry. So, you get three chapters at once! I'm trying a new approach here, hope you like it. There's some drama ahead for Erica, something to keep the story interesting. Also, constructive criticism is appreciated, I want my writing to improve so if there is something special you noticed/something I should work on, please tell me!

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen A – Similar Features**

Two weeks later, Callie sat at the nurses' station and wrote a few remarks on a chart when a blond woman approached her.

"I'm sorry, I'm looking for Doctor Hahn." The raven doctor looked up into Erica's eyes and blinked a few times to realize that the woman in front of her was **not** Erica. The resemblance was undeniable, even though the woman's nose and mouth didn't look identical to Erica's. Their eyes, however, were clearly the same tone of blue. Callie didn't even need to see Erica standing next to her mother to know that this woman was her mother, biologically at least.

"She's in surgery. Can I help you with anything?"  
"No, thank you. We'll just wait."  
"It's going to take at least another two hours, possibly more." Callie checked her watch and saw that hers and Erica's shifts would be over in four hours. "Erica is off at 6, so why don't you come back then. Or you could leave your number, I'll make sure she gets it."  
"She probably wouldn't call." The woman smiled a sad smile and then continued "I think we'll just wait, it's okay."  
"You are her mother, right? Her biological mother?"

The blond looked at Callie with surprise, her eyebrows shot upwards and then furrowed. "You know about the adoption?"  
"Yeah, Erica and I, we're friends. Listen, I'm sure Erica will be hungry after work, so why don't you wait in the lobby at six o'clock. I'll make sure that she doesn't miss you and then you can go out to dinner or something."

Erica's mother thought about the proposal for a moment and turned to the young woman standing behind her, who nodded.

"Okay, so six o'clock it is. Thank you,-" She checked Callie's badge "Dr. Torres."

Callie smiled at the woman, still astonished by the resemblance between Erica and her mother. "You're welcome."

When Erica rushed past Callie in the ER, sitting on a patient while giving him cardiac massage at five to six, Callie knew that she would have to stay longer. Since the ortho doctor had already checked on her last patient's for the day, she went to get changed and joined Erica's mother in the lobby.

"She's not coming, is she?" The woman asked with sad eyes.  
"She's going to be late, a patient just came into the ER, I'm sorry. But she will come, I've told her to meet me here as soon as she's finished."  
"Oh, okay." Erica's mother let out a long breath and stretched out her hand. "I'm Marie Anderson, this is my daughter Sandra." Callie shook the women's hands and they sat down. "I'm Callie."  
"You must be a really good friend of Erica's. She told me that she never tells anyone that she's adopted."

Callie couldn't stop the huge grin from spreading across her face and lowered her head to hide the blush that colored her cheeks.  
"It took a while but yeah, we are good friends."  
Callie's phone started ringing with the ring tone that was reserved for her lover and she smiled as she picked it up.

"Hey Erica!"  
"Hi. I just lost the patient, I'll change and then I'll meet you in the lobby, okay?"  
"Yeah-" "Good." Erica cut Callie off and disconnected the call before Callie could say anything about her mother.  
Callie sighed and sat down again. "She should be here any minute."

The three women sat in silence and watched the doors of the elevators slid open and close until finally the blond cardio goddess got off one. Erica walked towards the lobby, her eyes searching for Callie. When she saw the woman sitting next to Callie, she stopped dead in her tracks, eyes fixated on her mother. She inwardly cursed Callie, her dead patient and god for the situation she was facing. Even though there was nothing she would have loved to do more, she couldn't just turn and walk away, since the three women had already seen her and were walking towards her. So Erica did what she used to do when she had to tell a patient's family that their loved one had just died. She took a deep breath and wiped all emotions off her face and then started walking towards the trio.

* * *

Erica had seen and met her biological mother probably about 20 times in her life and she had received birthday and Christmas calls and cards every year since their first reunion. Her mother cared about her, even though it was hard for Erica to believe that the affection was real and not just pity. The cardio goddess was friendly and polite, but she never warmed up to her mother. They talked about work and Marie told Erica about her half-siblings. As soon as Erica let her mother know that she had no interest in getting to know them Marie dropped the subject. Erica used her professional achievements to boast about her successful career while she never talked about her private life. Not that there was so much to talk about anyways. When her 'real' mother had died, Erica was so heart-broken she called Marie but as soon as her biological mother offered to come to the funeral Erica had gotten angry. She had said a few things she regretted saying later, but the fact that she had shown so much emotion made Marie call her repeatedly over the next few months. Sometimes, they would actually talk about what Erica was going through, but mostly, Erica used the opportunity to let off some steam. Why her mother still called so often was a mystery to her, but over time the calls got fewer and fewer. Erica simply didn't have anything new to say.

* * *

"Dr. Torres. Marie." Erica nodded at Callie and shook Marie's hand. Sandra stretched out hers and said "Hi, I'm Sandra, it's so nice to meet you." The cardio goddess shook her sister's hand and nodded at her, not returning the compliment.  
"I didn't know you were in town. You should have called."  
"I'm sorry, this trip was a bit on short notice. I just wanted to see you and talk to you, it's important."

Erica nodded and seemed to consider her options for a moment. She let out a long breath and said "Okay, how about dinner? I know a small restaurant close-by where we should be able to get a table without a reservation. It's nothing fancy, but without a reservation… "

"It's okay."  
"We can walk from here, it's just 10 minutes away."

Callie wondered whether Erica wanted her to join them. Erica was so protective about her family life that Callie didn't want to intrude the family reunion, but Marie decided for her.

"Callie, do you want to join us? I'm sure you're hungry as well!"

Callie looked at her lover for approval and Erica gave her a small nod, as if she was admitting defeat. The four women left the hospital and Marie started asking Erica about her work.

When they reached the restaurant, mother and daughter were still talking about the changes Erica had been through since she came to Seattle Grace. They sat down at a table in a corner, a bit secluded from the other tables and placed their orders.

"Sandra got offered a fellowship in Sports Medicine at Johns Hopkins, at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston **and** University of Washington Medical Center here in Seattle." Marie addressed Erica, pride evident in her voice.

"So you're an orthopedic surgeon? Me too!" Callie said excitedly. She hardly ever met female orthopedic surgeons, her field was as male-dominated as neurosurgery and cardiothoracic. Sandra smiled at Callie and replied "I thought so. You have that not-too-serious slash rock-star look that ortho chicks all seem to have."

Erica interrupted their bonding moment by asking "Have you chosen one hospital yet?"  
"No, I would love to go to Johns Hopkins, but there are a few things I need to take into consideration. It's on the other coast, so not an easy decision."  
"I went to Johns Hopkins University, it's an excellent institution. I can't see what would stop you from moving there." Sandra's smile fell from her face and she looked down, her reaction made Callie smack Erica on the thigh under the table.  
"She doesn't want to move away from me. Erica, the reason why I came here unannounced is because I have a tumor in my brain. It's inoperable."

For a short moment, shock was clearly evident on Erica's face, but she caught herself quickly.

"How long?"  
"Two to four months."  
"Have you tried all treatment options?" Callie could sense that Erica was in doctor mode and it hurt her to see her lover close herself off, but she didn't want to interfere and she couldn't think of anything to say either.

"Most. I'm going to die, I've accepted my fate. But I wanted to tell you myself. We plan on going to Paris next week, I want to show my children the city of love before I get too sick." Sandra stood up and excused herself from the table.

"You should see Dr. Shepherd. He started a clinical trial at Seattle Grace, specialized on brain tumors."

"My doctor told me about this trial, but in the first round, only one patient out of thirteen survived. I don't want to die at a hospital far away from my family. I want to die at home."

"The second round of testing is working better, as far as I know they have saved three more patients." Callie said and by the reaction of the two women, they were both surprised to see her still sitting at the table. She excused herself and decided to check on Sandra.

Erica's sister was in the restroom, splashing her face with ice-cold water.

"I am really sorry about your mother. Is there anything I can do?" Callie asked softly.

"Talk some sense into your girlfriend! She meets me for the _first time_ in my life and doesn't even show any interest. She finds out that her mother, _**our**_ mother is going to die and she doesn't even flinch. You know, my mother always told me that I don't get to have an opinion on Erica because I've never met her. Yesterday she told me I don't get to have an opinion because I was never in her situation, I wasn't given up for adoption. Now I know why she doesn't want me to have an opinion! Erica is a horrible person! I was so excited to finally meet her, can you image being thirteen and told that your own half-sister doesn't want to meet you? At first I thought that she didn't want to share our mother, that she wanted to have her all to herself, but the older I got the more I realized that she simply didn't want to meet me. I grew up knowing that I had a sister, an **older** sister out there somewhere. I grew up looking at her baby pictures, wondering what she would look like. Whether we would look like sisters. My mother has a photo album, bit instead of pictures there are articles inside. She has collected every article, every paper Erica has ever published or that has ever been written about her. One day, I was already in college, I came home early and I found the album sitting on our living room table. I looked at all these pictures and I got so jealous. My older sister, who didn't even want to _**meet**_ me, was the spitting image of my mother! I mean look at their eyes! She never really talked about Erica, I thought she didn't because she didn't want to hurt our feelings or make us jealous. But I realized that she didn't want us to see how hurt she was over how badly Erica treaded her. And still, she couldn't stay away from her. Still, she called her and then cried afterwards. You know that my mother didn't allow my father and my brother to join us because she didn't want Erica to be uncomfortable? The only reason why I was allowed to join her on the trip is because she already had a seizure and I'm a doctor, so she felt relatively safe. Isn't that great? I only get to meet my sister because I'm a doctor and my mother is dieing!"

Callie didn't even try to interrupt Sandra, she was way too stunned by the woman's outburst. Tears rolled down Sandra's cheeks as she dried her face, making her actions completely redundant.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Callie opened her arms to hug Sandra and the dark-haired woman happily stepped into the embrace. She snuffled and apologized for her outburst, then thanked Callie.  
"How did you know that Erica is my girlfriend?"  
"I'm gay too. The way you look at Erica was just a too obvious for my gaydar. Can you imagine that, we are half-sisters and both gay!" Sandra looked at Callie and laughed, but then tears started to spill again and Callie embraced Erica's sister again.

When the door opened and Callie heard Sandra gasp, she turned around in time to see Erica glaring at her.

"Callie! I'm going home, if you want to join me move your ass!" Callie turned to Sandra and looked at her apologetically and then hurried to catch up with Erica who was already leaving the restaurant.

"Erica, wait! Erica!" Callie caught up with her lover and started to explain the situation Erica had caught her in but Erica interrupted her.  
"Don't!" "But,-" "No." "Let me explain-" "CALLIE!!" Erica glared at Callie and it took all of the raven beauty's willpower to not avert her eyes. Erica walked away, letting Callie just stand there until the ortho doctor decided to follow her girlfriend even though she wasn't going to let her talk.

They drove to Erica's house in silence, where Callie's car was still parked. Callie thought about the last two weeks and how her relationship with Erica had evolved. They had never gotten around talking about the fight as Callie didn't want to push Erica or move at warp speed and Erica didn't want to fight. They had been out dancing once, but after watching Callie sway her hips for half an hour Erica told her that they either went back home immediately or she would take her right there on the dance floor. The couple met at Erica's house most evenings to cook or watch TV or make out on the sofa for hours. Their schedule even allowed them to share one lunch at the hospital. Mark and Cristina were so surprised to see them sitting on one table they sat down on the next and watched them eat, which made Callie laugh and Erica tell them to 'fuck off'. Callie smiled at the memory but then thought about what would happen next as Erica turned into her street. Erica parked her car in the garage and still didn't say anything, so Callie followed her into the house.

Erica poured herself a glass of wine and took a sip, almost spilling some of the ruby colored liquid because her hands shook so badly. Callie rushed forward to take the glass from Erica's hand and hugged her, trying to sooth her lover even though the blonde didn't respond at all.

"You need to be on my side!" Erica murmured stubbornly.  
"I'm sorry?"  
"You need to be on my side! I need to tell you something and you need to be on my side!"  
Callie took a sip from the glass and made up her mind.  
"Okay. I'm on your side!"

Erica led Callie into the living room and made her sit down while she paced, almost leaving a trail on the carpet.

Callie followed her with her eyes, watching her go up and down, up and down in the living room, lost in thought. After a few minutes of pacing, Callie sighed and said a soft "Erica?" The blonde looked up and realized that Callie was waiting for her to speak, so she sat down next to her lover and started talking.

"She told me who my father is."  
"What? I thought she didn't know who he is."

"Well, apparently she does know. She said that it was a mistake that she didn't tell me and she doesn't want to take this to her grave. She said that she was so angry at him for leaving her and letting her take care of everything. She said when his parents found out that she was pregnant with his child, they sent him to boarding school in Switzerland and they moved away so that they would never meet again. She said that she was so furious with him because he didn't even call once or write a letter and she thought that he had no right to claim being my father. As if she has any right to claim being my mother! But Callie-" Erica turned and looked into attentive chocolate-colored eyes and started to grin "-I know him! I've met him before, twice actually! I've met him and I didn't even know that he was my father. How could she have done this to me?"

"Where did you meet him? Who is your father?"  
"Does the name Jonathan Richmond ring a bell?"  
"THE Jonathan Richmond? The cardiothoracic surgeon who invented the Richmond procedure? One of the four cardio gods?"

Erica's whole face was lit up in a huge smile that made her eyes sparkle. "That's him! Can you imagine that, I am the daughter of Jonathan Richmond! I guess my genius is in my blood. What he could still teach me, I mean I was so nervous when I met him and he was really nice, we talked at a congress once. I wonder what he would say if I met him again and told him that I'm his daughter. He'd probably think that I'm a fraud. I need to get in contact with him and find out whether that's true. Whether he really is my father. Wow, I can't believe it!"

Callie eyed Erica, surprised by the turn of events but also by her lover's reaction.  
"Why did you leave the restaurant so abruptly?" The dark-haired beauty asked carefully.  
"What did you expect me to do, sit and talk to her? She lied to me, about my heritage! If this is true, then she should have told me years ago. Like when I told her that I went to med school or that I had chosen my specialty, might have been a good moment. She kept my father from me!"  
"But you seemed to have no interest in her as your mother, so she probably thought that you weren't interested in your father either."

Erica glared at Callie and if looks could kill, Callie would have probably died in that moment.

"How can you defend her? What she did is so different than what he did. He had no choice, his parents sent him to Switzerland! She could have kept me, had she loved me enough then she would have tried. Had she cared about me, then she wouldn't have given me away like that. She would have tried to make it work!" Erica chocked on the last words and tears started to spill, running down her crimson cheeks. Callie had never seen Erica cry before and she was shocked by how emotional Erica - 'The ice queen' Erica – got. She leaned forward and hugged her lover.

"She loved you. Your mother loved you so much that she made the most difficult decision a mother can make. She gave you away so someone could take care of you the way she couldn't. She was just a teen and yet she knew that you would be better taken care of with someone else. Hadn't she loved you so much, she would have never given you away! Sandra told me that your mother has a photo album with all the articles you've ever published. She followed your life, even if it was just from a distance."

Erica was sobbing so hard that Callie wasn't sure whether she had heard or understood even remotely what she had said, so she repeated the words again and again "She loved you, she loved you too much." When Erica pulled away and looked into her eyes, Callie knew that she had been listening, but whether the words had actually reached her heart was yet to be seen.

"You're supposed to be on my side! I'm trying to throw a tantrum here and you argue logically? You are really a handful!" Erica smiled through her tears and made Callie laugh. "I am on your side. But being on your side also involves making sure that you'll be fine in the future. I don't want you to look back and regret what is going to happen in the next few days. Because your mother might die and you need to let go of the pain and anger. You need to find your peace with her as long as you still have the opportunity to." The dark-haired beauty used her thumb to brush aside the tears and softly kissed her lover on the lips. Their lips lingered, barely touching but the simple gesture made Erica feel better instantly. She sighed contently and then tore herself away from Callie.

"I always felt so abandoned. Logically, I know that she did the right thing. I had loving parents and great opportunities and my parents always supported me. But something was always missing. I was _**so**_ excited to finally meet my mother and then I found out that she had a family. She had kids and a husband and the whole package. She didn't need me. She had a boy and a girl and her kids were perfectly normal kids, not the way I was. I just always felt like she was nice to me because she felt guilty about what she had done. She pitied me and she couldn't really turn me away, could she? I was her flesh and blood after all."

"She doesn't pity you, she loves you. How can you not see that? She's so proud of you, of your achievements."  
"Yeah, because she doesn't know **me**. She just knows the me that I let her see. She doesn't know that I'm feared by interns and residents or that I don't feel bad when I treat Yang like crap. She has no idea who I am."  
"You have the opportunity to let her get to know **you**. She's here, she's in town, why don't you just invite her over tomorrow. You can take the day off and get to know her. And your sister."  
"I can't, I have surgeries tomorrow. I could invite her to dinner. But- … what if I see her and all my anger comes back? What if I see her with her daughter and see how well they know each other and that her daughter got to grow up with her mum around and I get angry again? I can't control my feelings with her."

"Baby, I'll be here, okay? I'll be here and take care of you, put you in your place if I need to."

Erica raised her eyebrows, her eyes twinkled with an emotion Callie couldn't quite place. "Baby?"

"Oh, just shut up. I get to call you baby if I want to. I'm taking care of you, so I get to call you baby." Erica raised her hands in mock surrender. "Okay. I guess I should call her and see if she's free tomorrow night. " Erica sighed and got her phone from the purse. She stared at it, waiting for something to happen. Callie nudged her elbow and gave her a reassuring smile, so Erica sighed once more and dialed the number. It rang twice before Maria picked up, but when she did, Erica froze like a deer caught in headlights. She wanted to say something, anything, but nothing came out of her mouth. Hastily, she closed her phone and started to cry again. Callie hugged her and murmured sweet nothings into her lover's ear. When Erica's phone started ringing, she panicked and thrust the phone into Callie's hands. The orthopedic surgeon saw how rapid her lover was breathing and decided to just get it over with.

"Hello?"  
"Erica? This is Marie calling."  
"No, it's Callie. Hi, I'm sorry, we just called but then hung up accidentally."  
"Oh, okay. Did Erica want to talk to me?"  
"Yes. She wanted to invite you to dinner tomorrow, at her house. Will you still be in town?"  
"Yes, we planned on staying for the weekend. Can I talk to her, please?" Callie looked at Erica and saw her shake her head furiously, tears still spilling down her cheeks.  
"I don't think that that's a good idea right know. Why don't you just come by tomorrow at seven?"  
"Does she know what you are doing?"  
"Yes, she does. I think you need to talk face to face and Erica is sorry that she stormed out like that, but it was a lot to process." Erica glared at Callie again, who just shrugged.  
"Okay, so seven o'clock at Erica's house. Can you give me the address, please?" Callie furrowed her brows at Erica and gave Marie the information, then said goodbye and hang up.  
"Your mother doesn't know your address?"  
"No. I always only gave her the address from the hospital."  
Callie sighed and tried not to feel sorry for Erica, as she knew the cardio goddess didn't want pity.  
"How about a hot, long bath and then I'll get you to bed?"  
"Callie, it's not even eight!"

"Well,-" Callie batted her eyelashes and flashed Erica a grin "-I happen to know from personal experience that it takes us about two hours to go from going to bed to actually sleeping. I just want you to get enough _sleep_, you had an emotionally exhausting day and you'll have one tomorrow."

"Okay" Erica whispered and placed soft kisses on Callie's lips, her body expressing the love she felt.

Callie filled the bath tub with bubble bath and scalding hot water, shed her cloths and got in. When Erica wanted to sit down opposite of her, she stopped her lover and told her to turn around and lean against her. She took the sponge and started slowly massaging Erica's arms, her shoulders and her breast. She made Erica lean forward slightly and massaged her back, kneading the flesh and loosened the knots in her lover's back, massaging the tension of the day away. Then Callie pulled Erica back and slowly teased her nipples, intrigued by the way they stood at attention as soon as she started to knead Erica's breasts. She trailed one hand down Erica's stomach, past her navel and into the curls. The hot water worked against her efforts to make Erica wet so she kissed her lover's shoulders and softly asked her to move to the bed.

They didn't bother with towels or drying their glistening bodies off but simply let the blanket take care of their wetness. The raven beauty savored the blonde's body and took her time, exploring every inch and leaving wet kisses all over ivory skin. When Callie finally brought Erica to orgasm by sucking on her clit, Erica came hard, not only due to the physical assault but also due to the unspoken promises that Callie had left all over her body.

Callie allowed her lover to rest and catch her breath for a few moments, but she was so wet and ready herself that she straddled Erica and asked her to fuck her. Erica swiftly entered three fingers into Callie, who was more then ready and immediately started riding Erica's hand. She climaxed fast, pearls of sweat running down between her breasts, her chocolate skin shimmering with perspiration.

"God. Wow." Erica withdrew her fingers and locked piercing blue with dark brown eyes. She used her clean hand to push a few strands of Callie's hair behind her ears.  
"I love you."  
Callie covered her mouth with her hand, tears of joy shimmering in her eyes.  
"I love you too."


	16. Chapter Sixteen A Simple Love

**Title****:** Doctors don't make promises, do they?  
**Author**: Nelfy  
**Characters:** Callie Torres, Erica Hahn, Callica ship, slight mentions of Mark, Christina and Addison  
**Summary:** This fanfic shows what happened during the season 4 finale and goes further to explore the relationship between Callie and Erica.  
**Spoilers:** Starts with the season 4 finale  
**Rating:** M  
**Disclaimer:** Characters belong to ABC and Shonda Rhimes

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* * *

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Chapter Sixteen – A Simple Love

"Callie?"  
"Yeah?" The couple was driving to work the next day. "Can you ask Shepard about his clinical trial for me?"  
"Yes?"  
"It would make me feel better, okay?" Erica explained without really explaining anything.  
"It's okay, I'll ask him. I'll stare him down." Callie chuckled and proceeded to tell Erica the story of the 17-year-old patient and how she had convinced Derek to operate on the girl.

The cardio surgeon parked her car in her designated spot and grabbed Callie's hand to stop her from getting out of the car.  
"Wait. I-… thanks. For everything. You are a really great friend!"  
"I certainly hope that I'm more than just that." Callie's eyes sparkled and for a moment, it looked as if Erica would kiss her but then she made due with tracing her thumb across Callie's hand. They got out of the car and Callie took Erica's hand again, linking her fingers through Erica's. A door opened somewhere and Erica pulled away.

"Not here." The blonde checked whether someone had seen them, but the parking deck was deserted. "I'm sorry."

Callie sighed but didn't respond otherwise. They walked to the elevator in silence and parted ways to go about their day.

* * *

"Dr. Shepard, do you have a moment?"  
"What can I do for you, Dr. Torres?"  
"How do you find patients for your clinical trial?"  
"Well, mainly through getting the word out that we are doing one and contacting other hospitals, other neurological doctors. Either the doctors refer the patients to us or the patients find us. Why?"  
"I might know a candidate for your surgery, even though she hasn't decided yet whether she wants to see you or not."  
"Okay. The patient should see Meredith first, she'll do the usual tests. And, obviously, the patient should bring her medical history, would save us a lot of time and work."  
"I will tell her. Great, thanks."

"Are you okay?" Derek asked, a concerned look he reserved for patients and Meredith clouding his face.  
"Yes, why?" Callie didn't really know what he was referring to, since they didn't talk about personal issues.  
"Because a friend of yours has a tumor in her brain."  
"Oh. Well, she's more the friend of a friend, I just met her. But thanks for asking."  
"Okay." Callie smiled at Derek, surprised that he would be so attentive and sympathetic.

* * *

When Callie finally made her way to Erica's, she was already running late. An emergency surgery had come up and she had stopped at her place to pick up some cloths. The fact that she didn't even have a car and needed to call a cab wasn't great either, Erica had obviously forgotten that her car was still at Erica's place. The raven beauty entered the house with the spare key Erica had given her when they had still been friends - **only** friends – and was surprised to find Erica vacuuming the living room. Callie knew that there was no need for cleaning, as Erica has someone come by and clean once a week. The cardio goddess was a neat person and her house reflected that. To see her vacuum the living room was certainly interesting.

"Hey. Sorry that I'm late, do you mind if I hop into the shower real quick? I'll be ready once they get here."  
"They will be here in ten minutes!"  
"I'll be quick. I need to change as well. Besides, they probably won't mind if I join you a bit later."  
"I mind. I don't want them to know that you shower here, they will know that we are more than just friends."

Callie sighed and looked at Erica, trying to figure out how the blonde would react to her confession. '_Oh, just get it over with_.'

"I think they already know. At least, Sandra does."  
"Why, what did you say to her?" Erica asked agitatedly, uncomfortable with the thought that her girlfriend and her sister had been talking behind her back.  
"I didn't say anything, she just knew. She told me she's gay too-"  
"I'm not gay!"  
"Listen, I don't want to fight with you, okay? It's not my fault other people can see our happiness and I'm not going to apologize for that either." Callie turned to leave but stopped staring that the empty wall ahead of her.

"What happened to our letters?" Erica had framed the letters they had written on the day of their first real date and had put them on the wall, side by side. When Callie wasn't around, the cardio goddess liked to read them at night before going to bed and it made sleeping alone slightly more bearable.  
"I took them down. I don't want my guests to read something so personal."  
"Erica, you want your mother to get to know you, so put them back where they belong." Erica wanted to argue, but when she saw the look of hurt in Callie's eyes she decided against it.  
"Okay" she grumbled and pulled the two frames from a drawer, placing them back on the wall.

"Thank you." Callie's tone was still harsh, but the raven beauty kissed the blonde softly on the cheek to make up for it. Callie hurried to take a shower while Erica put the finishing touches on the decoration in the living room and kitchen table.

* * *

At two minutes past seven, the bell rang in time to Callie walking down the stairs, putting on lip gloss as she went. Erica took in the sight and reveled in Callie's beauty when her lover shook her out of her reverie.

"Aren't you going to open the door?"

Erica blushed and cleared her throat, turning to do just that.

Marie and Sandra had brought flowers and a bottle of white wine to show their appreciation over the invitation and after exchanging awkward greetings the four women moved to the living room for appetizers. Erica offered drinks and poured herself a liberal glass of martini, drowning it in one shot. Callie was worried about this behavior, as Erica hardly drank more than just a few beer or a few glasses of wine. She refused to do shots at Joe's because they would make her hung-over.

They made small talk, talking about the weather and the constant rain in Seattle. Erica mainly listened, letting Callie lead the conversation. She hated the useless discussions on weather or which show had been on the previous night. It was just one more reason why people didn't like her, her distaste of trivialities.

When they had finished their drinks, the party moved to the dining room to eat. Marie complemented on the beautiful setting and Erica thanked her, stating that her mother had always made her pay attention to detail. An uncomfortable silence settled, until Marie decided to ask about Erica's day. Erica replied with a short "Good" but was urged on by Callie with a warning "Erica" and a look that said '_Talk or I'll make you'_.

"I had two surgeries today, one bypass surgery that went well and a valve replacement that didn't go so well. The patient died on the table, her heart was just too weak to take the strain. I shouldn't have operated, but the surgery was her only chance so …"  
"I'm sorry."  
"Don't be. I am a doctor, sometimes I save a life and sometimes I can't. We help more than we hurt."  
"I know that that is what doctors tell themselves, but to lose a patient on the table still hurts. I experienced it often enough. It's okay to hurt over a patient's death."  
"I'm dealing with it, okay? I'm dealing with this my way, I just don't want to talk about it."

Marie nodded and steered the conversation into what she believed where safer waters.

"So, how long have you two been a couple?" Callie threw Erica, who was staring at her plate, a nervous glance which way not lost on Sandra.  
"We-.. we're… I guess you could say we started dating three weeks ago. But we've been friends before that for a while."  
"Oh. I had assumed that you've been dating for longer. So you already did the whole lesbian U-haul thing?"  
"I'm not a lesbian." Was Erica's reaction as Callie simultaneously asked "What's that?"

Had the mood not been so tense, both Sandra and Callie had started laughing. But the tension was almost tangible in the air, so both bit back their laughter.

"I'm sorry, I just assumed you identify as a lesbian."  
"Well, I don't. I've only been with two women in my life."  
"And you've been with more men?"  
"That's none of your business."

"Erica!" Another warning glace from Callie told Erica very clearly to be nice because Marie was just making an effort to get to know her.

"What, it is none of her business. I didn't talk about my sex life with my other mother either."  
"You don't need to tell me about the number of sex partners you've had in your life, I don't want to know that. I was just asking about relationships, you know, serious ones."

Erica crossed her arms and slid down in her chair a bit, looking very much like a grouchy teenager.

"Can we please talk about something else?" The blonde grumbled.

"I talked to Derek Shepard today." All eyes were on Callie immediately. "He says that you can come by any time, just bring your medical history and they'll do some tests to see whether you are a suitable candidate."  
"My doctor said that I would be. But I want to take my children to Paris first. Then, I can be the lab rat, but Paris comes first. You should join us, Erica, it's beautiful."  
"I've been to Paris, twice actually. My French is horrible, but the wine is good."

Disappointment was evident on Marie's face for a moment, but then she caught herself again and smiled. "Oh, I see. You could still come, if you wanted to. Get to know your siblings. It would make me really happy to see all my children united."

"I'll think about it." Erica squirmed under her mothers gaze so Callie decided to help her out a bit.  
"You have son as well, right?"  
"Yes, Ethan. He just came back from his third tour in Iraq. He was in Afghanistan once and in Iraq twice."  
"Ethan is a soldier?" Erica had never cared about her siblings, but to think that her own brother, even if he was just her half-brother, was defending their country overseas made her proud in a way.

"Sort of, he's a doctor as well, he's in the Army medical corps. He joined the army to serve his country and save soldiers lives. He really grew up on his first tour, he came back as a changed man. He says that a doctor here has seen nothing compared to what he saw." A certain amount of pride, but also fear, resonated in Marie's voice.

"It's a war zone, they blow your limbs away the first chance they get."

"Sadly, that's true." Silence fell over the table again, but since they had all finished eating Erica decided to clear the table and move to the living room again for desert. Both Callie and Sandra offered to help, so Callie sent Erica and her mother to the living room and moved to the kitchen to do the dishes.

"What the hell is a lesbian U-haul thing?" Sandra laughed and explained Callie the phenomenon of lesbians moving in together after the first date. The ortho chicks talked and laughed about lesbianism and labels and their past relationships, allowing Erica and her mother some time alone.

* * *

"You know, I would really like you to join us on our trip to France. We'll be in Paris for five days and then we'll visit the castles along the Loire for four days. This time of the year, it shouldn't be a problem to get another plane ticket for you."

"Don't you want to spend this time with your family? I don't even know them."

"But that's the whole point. I want you to get to know them. I want you to be fine when I die and I would love for my children to be able to have a relationship. Once I'm gone, you and my other kids will not get into contact anymore."

Erica sighed. In the past, she had always refused to meet her siblings, but she could understand her mother's motives.

"Listen, I don't want you to feel uncomfortable, but there is still so much resentment between us and I don't know how to fix that. Ever second thing I say makes you angry. This is my last chance to make up with you."

In this moment, Erica realized that she didn't want her mother to die. She wanted her to live so they could become mother and daughter. She wanted her to live so that she could tell her about Callie and about her friends and about all the things that were important to her. She wanted her to live so that, if Callie was interested in having any, their children would have a grandmother.

"I'll try to get some days off for the trip if you at least go and talk to Dr. Shepard."

Marie stretched out her hand "Deal." Erica shook it and smiled at her mother, convinced that they would somehow be able to mend their relationship. Now that she was letting go of all the anger and hurt she could see that her mother cared about her.

"You like Callie a lot, don't you." A smile lit up Erica's face and her blue eyes twinkled with the emotions she felt when she thought about the raven beauty.  
"Yes. She's very special. Callie accepts me the way I am, even though she doesn't accept my crap. Mostly."  
"That's important. You have to be able to criticize your partner and still show him or her your love. Have you told her that you love her yet?"  
"Yesterday, I did." Erica blushed, thinking about what they had done the night before.  
"That's great." Marie leaned in to push a stray strand of blond hair out of Erica's face and cupped her cheek lightly. "Have I ever told you how happy I am that at least one of my children has my blue eyes? I know that you can make them look cold as ice if you want to, but right now, this blue is the most beautiful color I've ever seen. I'm happy that you are happy." A single tear rolled down Erica's cheek as she, for the first time in her live, felt the love her biological mother felt for her.

"I don't want you to die." Erica whispered and embraced her mother, silently crying for all the time they had lost while she was holding a grunge.  
"I know, honey, I know. It's going to be fine, you're going to be fine."

When Sandra and Callie joined Marie and Erica in the living room twenty minutes later, Erica was animatedly telling her mother how Marc Sloan tried to get her to go out with her. The four women laughed about his insistence and Callie was very happy when Erica left out the part where she had hooked up with McSteamy. As the evening came to an end, Erica and her family arranged to meet again the next day so that Erica could show them Seattle. ´The two lovers waved as the cab drove away and when Erica closed the door, Callie hugged her tightly and whispered "I'm very proud of you" into her ear.

"What for?"  
"You opened up and you didn't just let them into your house but also into your heart. So, I'm proud of you."  
"Thanks. I'm going to ask Richard for a few days off, I won't go to France for as long as they go but four days should be enough to spend some time with them, with … my family. You could join me if you want to, you know?"  
Callie smiled at Erica and kissed her lightly, touched by the invitation.  
"You need to spend this time with your family. It's okay, I'll be here, patiently waiting for your return." Erica smiled back and leaned in to kiss her lover again, slowly tracing her tongue over Callie's lips, but Callie pulled away.

"I'm sorry if I was harsh today or if I pushed too much. I want what's best for you, you know that, right?"

"Yes, I know. It's okay, I wasn't on my best behavior today either. So basically, we're even." Erica smiled at Callie and they kissed again, only this time, nobody pulled away for a while.

* * *

A/N: Okay, so here it is. I hope I was able to set the tone right, I feel like Erica and her mother are good right now. We'll see what the future and their trip will bring.


	17. Chapter Seventeen What happens tomorrow

**Title****:** Doctors don't make promises, do they?  
**Author**: Nelfy  
**Characters:** Callie Torres, Erica Hahn, Callica ship, slight mentions of Mark, Christina and Addison  
**Summary:** This fanfic shows what happened during the season 4 finale and goes further to explore the relationship between Callie and Erica.  
**Spoilers:** Starts with the season 4 finale  
**Rating:** M  
**Disclaimer:** Characters belong to ABC and Shonda Rhimes

**Author's note:** I'm not sure where the story is leading me, I'm trying to go with the flow. Hope you enjoy the next chapter!

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Chapter Seventeen – What happens tomorrow

On Monday, Erica stood at the nurses' station, charting and getting ready for a consult when Sandra approached her.

"Hi. They are taking mum's MRI right now." Erica looked around to check whether someone was near enough to listen in on them.  
"I work here, okay? So I can't be your sister right now. You need to not know me, okay?"  
"I'm sorry? I know that you work here, I just wanted to say hi because you didn't seem busy."  
"Well, you've said hi, so are we finished here?" Erica looked up from the chart she had been staring at to give Sandra an annoyed look.  
"You know what? You suck at being an older sister. And at being a decent human being, for that matter."

Sandra stormed off angrily and left an equally-angry Erica behind.

"Are you okay?"  
"Just peachy!" Erica turned to stare at Mark, wondering how much of the conversation he had overheard. When she felt tears starting to cloud her vision, she stormed past McSteamy into the nearest on-call room. Unfortunately for Erica, Mark decided to follow her.

"I want us to get along for Callie's sake, so I'm going to ask you again: Are you okay?"  
"No, I'm not _okay_." Erica said and let out a long breath, eying Mark suspiciously. "What did you hear?"  
"Just the part about your being a bad sister and, well…" He trailed off, not wanting to repeat the rest.  
"You probably agree with her, don't you?"  
"No, I don't. You've been good for Callie, you've really helped her get over Bambi. Will it make you better to fight with me or do you want to tell me what's wrong?" Erica sighed, uncertain whether she could trust Sloan.

"You aren't going to tell anyone about this conversation?"  
"What happens in on-call rooms stays in on-call rooms." Mark flashed Erica one of his trademark McSteamy grins. The blonde could only roll her eyes at him, but smiled a forced small grin back at him.

"How do you keep your private and professional life separate in this hospital?"  
"Here? You don't. Are we talking about Callie or about your sister?"  
Erica pondered over the question for a moment. "My sister."  
"Is she ill?"

Another pause in which Erica wondered how much she could tell him. She was already letting her guard down immensely just by talking to him. Normally, conversations between the shallow plastic surgeon and the hardcore cardio goddess were full of teasing and jokes, not once had they talked seriously. Erica mocked the manwhore endlessly, careful to keep her protective wall up around him. She was fully aware of the impact his charm had on women and this knowledge made resisting him even better. Had she not worked with him, but met him at a bar, she would have just given in to his courting and it would have suited her well that he wasn't a relationship kind of guy either. But the fact that they **were** working together made it impossible for her to even consider letting him take her out on a date.

"No, she's not. But another relative of mine is."  
"Okay. I know that you're adopted, so you can be open with me."  
Erica stared at Mark in disbelief. "Callie told you?"  
"No, Angie did. I asked her about the age difference and she told me about her mother and that you two grew up together. She said that you were a great older sister."  
"She shouldn't have told you about the adoption, that's none of your business."  
"What's wrong with being adopted? At least you had a family, parents who loved you."  
"You didn't?"  
"My parents never cared for me. I had nannies who knew me better than my mother." Mark shrugged carelessly but his voice gave away the fact that he did care. Are you trying to change the topic?"  
"Is it working?"  
"No. Listen, I can't help you unless you tell me what's wrong."  
"My mother is here, she's the one who's ill. I just don't want the whole hospital to gossip about me and my family."  
"I think the nurses will respect your privacy."

Erica raised her eyebrows at Mark. "I highly doubt that the nurses even know the meaning of the word privacy. Having a family member in the hospital always changes how people treat you, I experienced that with Bailey's son. Everyone treated her differently, and she's liked and respected unlike me."  
"People respect you around here."  
The blonde smiled a sad smile at him, disbelief evident on her features. "Yeah, sure." Both doctors knew very well that while the cardio goddess was somewhat respected by most hospital employees, most people also harbored a certain dislike towards her.

"So, what, are you going to just ignore the fact that she's at the hospital?"  
"That was the plan, yes."  
"You can't just ignore your own mother. Besides, things like these always come out, especially here."  
Erica seemed lost in thought for a moment, then her face turned into a look of determination. "Well, until it comes out, I won't have to worry about it, right. Erm ... Thanks, I guess." Erica pushed herself off the wall she had been leaning against and crossed the room, her hand already on the door knob when Mark spoke up. "Don't you think it will hurt you mother to be ignored by her own daughter who works at the same hospital she is getting treatment at?"  
"Well, she will have to live with it." Erica left the room and walked to the nurses' station, straightening her scrubs out as she went. She grabbed the chart she had been working on and left to see a patient, all the while being watched by Mark who stood at the door of the on-call room. When she was out of sight, McSteamy let out a long breath and ran his hand through his hair, wondering how badly this would end.

* * *

After her first two surgeries, Callie decided to check on Marie. Erica had told her on the phone yesterday that her mother had agreed to go to the hospital and have her tumor checked out by Derek and that she just couldn't be there for it. The cardio goddess needed to keep her private and professional life separate and Callie could hear the desperation in her lover's voice, so she hadn't argued with Erica. Erica had, however, not forbidden Callie to check on Marie, so she found out in which room Marie was staying and paid her a short visit. She had been there hardly five minutes when Meredith came in with the test results.  
"Well, I guess I should go. Good luck." Callie squeezed Marie's hand and got up from the bed to walk outside, Sandra walking past her into the room.

Derek saw her exit the room and asked "Are we going to wait for Dr. Hahn?" Callie furrowed her brows and looked at him in confusion.  
"Why, did the patient mention something about Erica?" Derek mirrored Callie's facial expression. "No, she didn't. I'm sorry, am I missing something here? I thought the patient was Dr. Hahn's mother, I- ... they look very much alike." Callie sighed and realized that she wasn't the only one who could immediately see their resemblance.  
"Erica isn't coming. And I think she would appreciate it if you could keep your observation to yourself. She wants to protect her mother's privacy and you know how the nurses are." _'Bending the truth, just a bit'_. Derek nodded commiserative and patted Callie's shoulder, a move that made Callie almost grin at his attempt at consolation.  
"I understand. Maybe you can tell her that it looks good, I think she would be a great patient for us."  
"I will. Thank you."  
"You're welcome. I guess I'll talk to the patient now, see if I can convince her to have the surgery."

_

* * *

_

(Erica's POV)

"Richard." I knocked on the open door, stepping into the office after the Chief beckoned me over. I closed the door behind myself because I wanted some privacy for the request I would ask Richard for.  
"What can I do for you, Erica?"  
"I know I just took two days off last week, but I wanted to ask if it were possible to get two or three more days off this and next week?  
"Of course, is everything alright with you?"  
"Yes, but something came up with my family and I would just really appreciate it. Yang can handle my pre and post op patients and I'd just have to move two surgeries so far if I take Friday, Monday and Tuesday off."  
"Okay, just tell Bailey. I noticed the progress that Yang has made in the last days. Who knew she would be doing procedures on her own that fast?" '_One way to put it.'_ Richard smiled at me, this was his way of telling me that he had noticed my 'improved' teaching skills.

"It seems she has what it takes. She definitely has the determination it takes. Thank you for letting me take time off again, Richard." I nodded at the Chief, giving him a small smile as I stood up and started walking towards the door.

"Wait, Erica. I hate to ask this, but… erm, do you … do I need you to fill out a new date-and-tell sheet?"

I swirled around, my eyes open wide in shock before I can help myself. _'This can't be. We were so careful, he can't already know about me and Callie!'  
_"Gossip travels fast in this place and while I normally don't believe everything I hear, I know how long Mark has been after you."  
"Sloan? You've got to be kidding me!" I huffed and let out a chuckle. "What makes you think that Sloan and I are _dating_? That's ridiculous!"  
"Is it? People saw you exit and on-call room with him close behind. I've heard it from two sides, so there's got to be some truth to this."

I let out a laugh, relieve washing through my body.

"Did you really think that _**I**_**,** of all people, had _**sex**_ with Mark Sloan in an on-call room? We were just talking about something, that's all. We weren't even in there for more than five minutes."

"Okay, good." He nodded, but stared at me as if there was something else on his mind. "You just looked like a deer caught in the headlights, so I have to assume that you are seeing _someone_."

I rolled my eyes and forced a smile on my lips, crossing my fingers that he wouldn't see right through my lie. "No, I'm not. Besides, I know how to keep my private and professional live separate, you should know that by now."  
"Erica. It's hospital policy, the hospital needs to protect itself from lawsuits."  
"Well, I'm not going to sue anyone and I can assure you that she won't either, so-" I put my hand over my mouth as I tried to shove back the words that had just left said mouth, but it was too late. My eyes were wide as I stared at Richard, willing myself to say something, anything, but my mind was blank. There was nothing I could have said that would erase what Richard had just heard.

"She? Oh god." The Chief shook his head and looked at me in disbelief. "You're not sleeping with Yang, are you?"  
"No!" I was so upset and angry at his suggestion that I protested strongly.  
"You've been letting her scrub in all the time all of a sudden, I just want to make sure I don't have another Burke situation on my hands."  
"Yang is my student. You told me I needed to teach her." I accused, trying hard to keep my calm. "I don't even like her."

"Good. She already went through enough because she couldn't keep her hands off her mentors." Richard sighed, obviously torn between hospital policy and the trust he had in me. "It's just a sheet of paper, Erica, and I can promise you that no one will ever get to see it."

"Well, I'm still not going to fill out the form. You don't have any proof and I can always just deny it. And if this hospital can't respect my private life, I'm sure Mercy West will have no problem with that. And, Richard … if any of this leaves your office, I WILL go back to Mercy West!" It took all of my strength to appear calm and full of myself, but as soon as the words were out I turned and bolted out of the door, quickly walking down the hallway and into the staircase. I leaned against the door and let out a long, shaky breath. "_**Fuck**_!"

I knew that I had to calm myself down and I really didn't want anyone to see me in the state I was in right now. I felt my hands trembling and shook them hard, willing them to stop shaking. I walked down the stairs, past two doors until I reached the last floor and entered the basement. Looking around, I saw that the hallways were empty, the calm settling my nerves slightly. I fished out my phone and paged Callie with a 911, directing her to where I was standing. Sighing, I leaned against the wall and took deep breaths, trying but failing miserably to stop the thoughts that were running through my mind.

'_Great, just great. So I teach Yang like __**he**__ told me to and this is his thanks? He accuses me of sleeping with her? Just great. Calm down. Let's just hope that he'll let the topic slide, he knows that he has nothing in his hands. I'm too good to be fired over something like this and he knows that. He might know that I was bluffing, but I'm sure Mercy West would take me back with open arms. No, he wouldn't risk losing me over a date-and-tell form, I'm a cardio goddess for god's sake!'_

I heard someone approach my hiding place and turned my head in time to see Callie storm through the door, looking around frantically. She spotted me and closed the distance between us with four fast steps, touching my shoulders and waist immediately.

"What happened, are you okay, are you hurt?" Callie panted, obviously she had just ran down the stairs.

"I'm not hurt. I just- … I think I might have lost my job and outed us all in once." I closed my eyes, not wanting to see the expression on Callie's face. Callie, in the meantime, tried to catch her breath, still panting hard. "What happened?"

"Richard thought I sleep with Sloan and asked me to fill out a date-and-tell sheet and I refused, but he wouldn't back down so I said something like 'I'm not going to sue and she isn't going to either.' That's when he conveniently assumed that I am sleeping with Yang, which is even more ridiculous!" I let out a laugh that I really didn't feel and looked at Callie who was eyeing me intently. "So I told him that I'm **not** sleeping with Yang and that I would go back to Mercy West if he tried to make me fill out a form."

I slumped forward slightly, staring at my shoes as if they were the most interesting pair of shoes I'd ever seen. I knew that Callie's name hadn't been mentioned in my conversation with the Chief, so if Callie wanted to get out of this mess she could still easily do it. I wouldn't blame her, had I been able to think before I spoke I wouldn't have gotten into this mess. "He has no clue that it's you, so I would understand if you wanted to break things off for a while, letting it cool down, you know." I muttered, still staring at my shoes. It physically hurt me to say what I thought was needed to be said, even if the pain in my chest almost made me cry out. I didn't want Callie to break up with me, but I wasn't sure how I would have reacted if the roles had been reversed. The least I could do was give her a choice and see how she felt.

"I'm in this. No breaking up needed. I don't care whether the Chief knows about us, I know for a fact that while he always hears all the rumors, he would never take part in the rumor mill actively. So if you want to tell him it's me you're seeing, I'm fine with that. I can go with you, tell him that you're not sleeping with Cristina. Jesus!" Callie let out a chuckle that surprised me and I looked at her in wonder. "How in the world did he come up with the idea that you are seeing Cristina? You don't even like her!"

"That's what I said too!" I laughed as well, as always being infected by Callie's good temper. Even when I was angry, Callie was able to make me feel better instantly. Her smile seemed to radiate directly into my body and fill the pit of my stomach with a warmth I hadn't felt in a long time.

"God, what do I do now Callie? I was still fairly respectful towards him, but I can't imagine facing him after what I said to him. I mean, I threatened to quit my job over a stupid date-and-tell form! Damn Sloan, if he could keep his pants on for longer than five minutes I wouldn't even have to think about such a form!" Callie pulled me off the wall and embraced me, drawing circles over my back to sooth me the same way I always did for her. I smiled into her hair at the gesture and was astonished at how easily Callie made me open up and let her see my vulnerable side.

"How did he come up with the idea that you are seeing Mark?"

I let out a sigh and decided to go with the truth, not having any energy left for making up a story.

"Sloan and I talked today, in an on-call room, and someone saw us leave it shortly after one another, so naturally, this person's mind went to the gutter immediately."

Callie chuckled again, not surprised by what this person had come up with. "People at this hospital think about sex way too much. But that's just Mark's reputation, he lusted after you for so long that most people in this hospital lost loads of money to Nurse Tylor. Like, a hundred bucks and more!"

I pulled back to look at Callie in surprise. "Why did they lose money? What does that have to do with anything?"

"People were betting on the time it would take Mark to get into your pants and Tylor was the only one who said that it would never happen. I should have put some money on you too, but I thought it was a bit insulting that people would bet on something like that. Besides, I knew you well enough already to know that Mark didn't stand a chance, so it would have felt like cheating."

"Great. The people working in this hospital are just so nice and respecting towards privacy. Unbelievable."

I shook my head and leaned into her embrace again, relishing how warm and soft her body felt against mine. The smell of her hair infiltrated my nose and I inhaled deeply, trying to store her distinct Callie smell into my brain.

"Erica? Listen, the Chief is smart enough to not fire you over something small like this. I bet in a few weeks you'll be laughing about your disagreement. Let's just fill out the form and go back to our lives." Callie spoke softly, as if she was trying to get me to think logically, which was hard when it came to her and our relationship.

"No! I don't want to!" I knew that I was being stubborn and unreasonable, but I wasn't ready for anyone to know about us yet. Richard was my superior and even though we got along most of the time, we weren't even close to being friends. To think of him as anything more than my boss irritated me immensely, as I never blurred the lines between work and play. Ever.

Only, now I had. The minute I started going out dancing with Callie the line started to blur and it only got worse the more my feelings for her evolved. I had been living in this bubble of denial and now I was paying the price. I wasn't even sure if I had really believed that we would be able to have a relationship at home and simply be colleagues at work or if I had just enjoyed my feelings so much that I completely shut out reality. Whatever my mistake had been, I wasn't going to be able to turn back time or take back what I had said to Richard and now I would have to find a way to undo the mistake. My slip was a minor setback, but I wouldn't put my reputation at risk over a stupid hospital policy.

Sighing, I leaned back, my arms still on Callie's waist. "I will just ignore the stupid form. I made myself perfectly clear and he can't really do anything about it, can he?" I took a deep breath and smiled at her, once again amazed at how beautiful the woman in my arms was. I could drink in her beauty ever second of every day and I would still not have enough. "Thank you. For- … you know, for coming here. Talking to me." I leaned in and kissed her softly, slowly letting my tongue trace over her bottom lip and felt her sigh against me.

_

* * *

_

(Callie's POV)

After Erica's panicked page to the basement, we went back to work, then both got off at six and returned to her house. While I ordered takeout, Erica called her mother and invited her over. We ate in silence as I was still thinking about her refusal to be honest about our relationship. I had always had a good relationship with the Chief and it hurt me to think that I was lying to him. Even though I wouldn't admit it out loud, it also hurt to hear Erica refuse to be open about our relationship the way she did. As if our secret had to be kept secret at all cost. I knew that we had just started dating, but I wanted to come out eventually. I had already told my friends about us and even Cristina knew, so being open at the hospital was just a matter of time for me. Apparently, Erica thought differently, but I was afraid to approach the topic. When Erica had confessed what had happened, she hadn't even looked me in the eye, as if she had been afraid of my reaction. I knew that I was in this for the long-term, but I wondered whether Erica knew that as well.

"I love you." I blurted, realizing that this was not the most romantic way to put my feelings into words. While we had said those words days early, we weren't throwing them around like some couples liked to do. This was actually only the second time I told Erica about my feelings, or at least the second time I spoke them out loud. My feelings for her were clear every time I stared into her blue orbs in wonder or traced my tongue across her soft skin.

"I love you too." Erica looked at me puzzled, clearly wondering where that had just come from.

"I know that we just started dating, but we are going to come out eventually, right? I mean we're not going to hide this forever, are we?"

Erica sighed and shifted in her seat, looking down at her plate. The fact that she wouldn't look me in the eyes spoke louder than any words she could have said.

"Erica, look at me. We can't hide forever, I mean what if we move in together. Are we going to pretend that we are just roommates?"

"I … I-" Erica sighed and looked up at me, finally meeting my eyes. "I don't know, Callie. I haven't figured that out yet. I mean, we told our friends, right, shouldn't that be enough? I'm not saying that nobody can know about us, but at work…" She paused and looked down at her plate. I waited and as I thought of something to say, she spoke again. "There's so much to consider, I mean everyone is going to assume that I'm, you know, a lesbian and that I hate men or something like that. We're doctors, our reputation is important to us. I know you don't care what other people think about you and I love that about you, but I don't have that luxury. I want people to talk about my work, the procedures I perform, not the fact that I'm in love with a woman. Besides, we have to work when we're at the hospital anyways, so I don't really see that much difference between acting like friends and acting like a couple. We both agreed that we wouldn't meet in on-call rooms or something like that, so…"

I felt the tears well up in my eyes as I stared at my food, willing them not to spill over. I had thought that for once, I would be the top priority for someone else, and again I was put second to something that I couldn't fight. Going in, I had known that Erica's work was important to her. Hell, I could understand that surgery was everything to her, just as it was for me. But I would have been ready to put her first, even before my beloved surgeries. I sniffled, still trying to hide that the tears were now streaming down my face.

"I'm sorry." Erica said softly, so softly in fact that I nearly hadn't heard it. Just as I was about to reply, the door bell rang and Erica sighed. She got up and didn't leave immediately, but stopped to kiss me on the head. As she welcomed her family I tried to compose myself and wiped the tears away with my sleeve, hoping that my eyes weren't red already.

* * *

A/N: Sigh. I'm not happy with this chapter. I want to wrap the story up before my classes at university start again (in two weeks). I won't be able to finish the story before the season premiere on Thursday, but I figured since we won't have that much Callica anyways, it doesn't really matter. Comments would be highly appreciated. Should Erica fill out the form? Are they going to find a solution for this? Is Erica's mum going to die? Hm, so many questions, so much to ponder.


End file.
